The Lost King Returns
by Artorias176
Summary: When a god knows loss, all mortals suffer. When Elgar'nan, King of the Elves and God of Vengeance escapes his prison within The Fade and returns to the mortal world, he binds himself to the soul of an unborn child. Will he lead his people back to glory? Or will his hatred consume him in his quest to take revenge on the one who destroyed everything he loved?
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, if I did then Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition wouldn't be as terrible as they were.

Summary: Many scholars believe that the age of the Elvehenan Empire ended when the god of betrayal, Fen'harel, sealed away his brothers and sisters. And stole the immortality of the elves for himself. But things long since dead are stirring, things thought lost are being found once more, and fates are constantly being unraveled and remade. When one of the gods thought trapped and lost to the mortal races finds his way back to the living world. What fates will change when he binds himself to an unborn child who will change the world? How will the people of Thedas react to the return of Elgar'nan, and will he lead his people back to glory? Or will his hatred consume all the world in his quest to enact his vengeance on the one who destroyed everything he loved.

Prologue: A New Beginning

 _As with all legends, it begins with a tragedy._

A woman's scream echoes throughout the forest, and Athon's head snaps to the direction of the disturbance. He did not even look back to see if his companions were following him, he took off as fast he could. Ducking, weaving, sprinting through the underbrush with the grace only a true Dalish hunter could have, he saw the clear signs of attackers as he drew closer and closer to the sound of the scream.

Leaves and grass trampled, twigs broken, and branches roughly hacked off of their trees. Had to be _Shemlen_ , no true Dalish would defile the forest like this. The trio arrived in a small clearing to find a grisly scene. Two of their clan mates, one dead from multiple stab wounds with arrows sticking out of several parts of his body. And his companion, a woman suffering from a long and painful looking slash wound across her stomach that had soaked her leather armor in blood, but the wound did not seem immediately fatal. " _Fenedhis Lasa!"_ Athon cursed to himself, he recognized them, Valanna and Theras Mahariel. Theras was one of the few members of their clan to have descended from one of the noble bloodlines of the Old Dales. This would be a blow to the clan, as another piece of their history was lost.

Surrounding them were six corpses, each as broken and bloody as their two clan-mates, Athon despised the evil _**men**_ that had casually taken the life of one of his brothers, and most likely would have killed or captured Valanna as well had they not arrived sooner. And in the distance, he could see the figures of three more men fading into the distance. Most likely they ran as soon as the woman screamed while their companions stayed to try and fight anyways. But what disgusted him the most was that four of these bandits were elves, _flat ears_. He reminded himself, these were not true elves, they were no better than dogs.

Sighing to himself, Athon motioned to his fellow hunters to gather the body of their fallen brother while he gently pulled Valanna away and picked her up as she sobbed into his chest. They left the bodies of the bandits lying there to rot, may the wolves feast on their flesh and the crows peck out their eyes, for they were not worth burying.

It was several hours later, long after the sun had set, that Athon was sent to the Keeper to inform her of what happened. Entering the Keeper's tent, he sat down across from his Keeper as she finished a prayer for the recently departed. When she looked into his eyes, he could see the great sadness within them, "what happened _lethallin_?" Athon told Keeper Marethari everything that had transpired this day, and he apologized for allowing another old bloodline to be lost when he could have saved it, if he had just been faster. The Keeper was silent for a moment. "Athon, Valanna is pregnant."

Later that night, on the verge of sunrise, a white light began to emanate from Valanna's tent. And a few seconds later, it disappeared.

Several months passed peacefully for the clan, moving from place to place, never staying in one spot for too long. Life moved on as it always had for them all, all except one, Athon thought to himself. Valanna had become a shell of herself after the death of her mate, her eyes were hollow, and even the imminent birth of her unborn child could not bring her out of her stupor. He tried to banish these thoughts from his mind, she would eventually move on once she found closure for Theras' death. Perhaps seeing her child for the first time will finally bring her out of her depression. Looking up to the sky and seeing the setting sun, he began to make his way back to the clan's campsite. His patrol duties were finished for the day, and he needed to talk to the Keeper in case this birth did not have the desired affect on his clan mate.

As he reached camp, Athos noticed a large group of people standing near one of the tents, he increased his pace, it was Valanna's. As he reached the crowd, he asked one of the nearby hunters,"what is going on?" The man looked surprised, "haven't you heard Athos? Valanna's child has been born, the Keeper is in there with them right now."

Before the man even finished, Athos began pushing and shoving his way to the front of the crowd and threw open the tent flap and entered. There he saw Valanna, propped up by layers of blankets and pillows, holding a newborn babe wrapped in furs to keep the chill away. Next to her, Marethari was reciting a poem in ancient elvish, to the baby, slowly lulling the child to sleep but she stopped once she saw him enter. "Ah, Athos, I was expecting you, a new brother has been added to our clan." All he could do was nod absentmindedly, for the child was staring directly at him with orange eyes that held an unusual amount of calmness to them, it was _**rare**_ for an elf to be born with orange eyes, many people believed it to be an omen of misfortune or death. But he never put much stock in those old stories, but there was something definitely off about this child.

He looked up into Valanna's own blue eyes, and he could see that they were not quite as hollow as he remembered, and the barest ghost of a smile graced her face. "His name is Theron."

The Keeper ordered Athos to watch over Valanna while she was recovering, and to make sure that the newborn child was kept safe. He awoke from his light slumber to the sound of a babies' cry, in confusion. Wasn't he just outside of Valanna's tent? The last thing he remembered was resting his eyes as he leaned against a nearby tree. And now he was back in his tent, nearly a hundred feet away. Athos rose to his feet and unsheathed his Dar'misaan and began to make his way towards the sound of the crying. He just knew it was coming from _**her**_ tent. The crying became louder and louder the closer he got to the tent, but there was no other sound this night. There was no wind, no howling wolves, not even the chirping of crickets. Soon he was standing just outside of the tent, gripping the flap, and he dreaded what he would find inside. With a deep breath, he readied his sword and opened it, only to see Theron on the tent floor, crying and still wrapped in furs. But Valanna was gone, and as he looked closer he saw three items next to the boy, a stack of clothes that he recognized to be Theras' old armor, cleaned and repaired since his death. A silver necklace in the shape of a Dragon's skull with two red rubies for eyes, and a curved Veridium dagger. When Theron caught sight of Athos, he immediately stopped crying and stared at him with the same unnerving calmness that the child had the first time Athos had seen him. And for some reason that he could not place, this disturbed him far more than anything his own mind could have created.

The clan had searched three days and nights for any sign of Valanna, but they found nothing, she had completely disappeared into the forest that night. There were rumblings within the clan, that the boy was cursed, that they would all end up disappearing eventually if he was left alive, after the death of Theras and now Valanna having vanished, many people began to believe those old tales of cursed children with purple eyes. And Athos might be starting to see where they were coming from, that boy was definitely not normal. The clan stood together in a large crowd as the Keeper began to address them, trying to calm them and assure them that Theron was not any threat. She asked them if anyone would be willing to watch over the newly orphaned boy, for a few moments the crowd was dead silent, all except for one woman. Ashalle stepped forward," I'll take care of the boy, and the rest of you should be ashamed of treating a child like this." If he remembered correctly, Ashalle had been very close friends to Valanna.

Many of the people looked away or muttered an apology, slowly the elves began to disperse to go back to their task of packing up their camp to move on, whatever would happen next. He could only pray that the clan would not suffer for sparing this child's life.

The next few decades were quite hectic for Marethari, Theron had been acting strangely from the moment he learned how to speak. They would catch him talking to no one, when he thought he was alone. He knew far too much about the world for someone as young as him, he would disappear into the forest for days at a time, only to mysteriously reappear when they were on the verge of giving up the search, and when questioned about his whereabouts, the boy would refuse to tell them where he had gone.

These events only served to continue to make her clan mates afraid of the young man, saying he was cursed, plagued by spirits that caused the disappearance of Valanna and Theras' death. And they also pushed their fears onto their children, the other younglings would actively avoid Theron, if they were not actively bullying him. For a long time, Theron had no one in his life that cared for him except for his adoptive mother Ashalle and herself. He began to grow colder, angrier, and quite in his isolation.

That is, until Theron reached the age of twelve, when he was sent on his first hunt with two other boys around his age, Fenarel and Tamlen. The twin brothers were both orphans as well, their mother having died during childbirth while their father had been killed by a bear when they were just four years old. She had hoped the boys would bond over their shared loss and finally help Theron integrate into the clan.

Like all of the other children, they refused to go on the hunt at first, fearful of the cursed boy who would kill them as soon as they were away from camp. But she had threatened to punish them severely if they disobeyed. Hesitantly, they agreed and went out into the forest midday, two days later, the boys stumbled back into camp. Half dead and exhausted, but there had been a change in Fenarel and Tamlen, they refused to leave Theron's side until he received aid for three long bleeding slash wounds on his chest, that stretched from his right shoulder down to his left side, and the two boys lacked the same fear and apprehension that they had before leaving on the hunting trip, which had been replaced with worry and respect.

As soon as her apprentice Sarvel guided Theron back to the boy's tent to begin healing him, she interrogated Fenarel and Tamlen about what had happened to the trio. Fenarel was the first one to break the silence, "Keeper, while we were out on the hunt, a bear attacked us. We tried to fight it, but, it charged at me and tried to swipe at me with its claws. But Theron managed to push me out of the way and took the blow himself, but Theron was still able to drive his knife into it's skull, and it took much longer to get him back with his injuries." Marethari nodded in understanding, "I hope you two realize how lucky you are to be alive, I think you both owe him an apology." The boys nodded in agreement, they couldn't believe how awful they had been to him after Theron had risked his life for them.

"Go and get cleaned up, you can apologize to him after we finish treating his wounds." The boys simply nodded and walked sluggishly back towards their tents, in contrast, Marethari began to make her way towards Theron's own tent to check on her First's progress. As soon as she threw open the tent flap, she was assaulted by the smell of blood, herbs, and the smell of rot, Marethari grimaced, sometimes she hated how sensitive an elf's senses were compared to the other races. Sarvel turned to Marethari while Theron laid on his bedroll unconscious, "Keeper, the rot has already begun to set in, I don't know if we can save him."

Marethari nodded in understanding,"you may leave Sarvel, I will take care of this." The young man nodded in understanding and left the tent. Slowly, she began to gather magic from the fade and began to pour it into the ill child, willing her magic to purge the infection from his body, for three full days she worked to fully remove all traces of the sickness, relying on the fade to sustain her. At last, the last vestige of the rot was eliminated and Marethari set to the task of suturing the open wounds, grinding the herbs and mixing it with water to create a herbal plaster that would keep them from getting infected again, and finally wrapping his torso in bandages. She sighed to herself, Theron would have these scars for the rest of his life, but he will live. Rising to her feet, she stretched her sore, aching, stiff muscles and left the boy in his tent, she was getting to old to be doing this sort of thing.

After his recovery, Theron, Tamlen and Fenarel became inseparable, everyone had heard how Theron risked his life to save his friends and it finally eased the concern of most of the clan, perhaps he wasn't cursed after all. Although it didn't stop all of the bullying, Theron always now had friends who would come to his aid to defend him against the other children, and it had the desired affect on the young boy that the Keeper had hoped. He wasn't quite so angry anymore and seemed to act far more like the other children, although he was still far too wise for someone his age and he did still periodically disappear, no one quietly muttered about the cursed child or looked at him in fear any more. For his bravery that day and his success in killing such a mighty creature during his first hunt, Theron earned his Vallaslin, and chose the intertwining vines of the El'garnan tattoo. He was the youngest member of the clan to earn the Vallaslin.

Three years afterwards, Sarvel had been killed by bandits and the Sabrae clan was in need of a new First, without any other magical children within the clan, a young girl by the name of Merrill was given to them, from the Alerion clan, to become the next Keeper after Marethari. While the other children thought they would have an easy target with her being a newcomer, they were proven wrong when Theron stood up for her and quickly invited her into his small group of friends. Afterwards, she was never far from him when she had the time, Marethari mused.

When Theron reached the age of sixteen, Marethari had convinced Athos to train Theron in the ways of the Dalish warrior and while it took some heavy persuasion on her part, the man had hesitantly agreed to the arrangement, every day afterwards at sunrise for the next eight years, Athos ran Theron through a brutal training regiment to turn him into the best swordsman he could be, once he mastered the blade, he taught him to use daggers and spears and axes. At the age of twenty five, Theron finally managed to defeat his master in armed combat. And in return, he was gifted a gleaming steel Dar'misaan and two curved Dar'misu. While he sported a few more scars, than before he was glad of it, he had grown to an impressive height of six feet and his body was muscular and toned, yet he still remained nimble like all of his brothers and sisters. And kept his straight, black, hair short.

Now at the age of twenty six, he was the spitting image of his father, Marethari thought, and she was proud that he had grown into one of the strongest members of their clan. But she had a strange feeling that something terrible would happen today, and she did not know why.

 **Authors Note:** This is just a little quick summary of Theron's backstory for this story, the next chapter will take place at the start of the Dalish Origin in DAO. I'm still undecided on who Theron will be romancing, but I am leaning heavily towards Morrigan at the moment. Feel free to give suggestions if you want to.


	2. Tainted

Chapter One: Tainted

It was a warm spring morning, the sun was just beginning to rise above the mountains in the east and began to slowly bring the ancient forest to life, this place had existed long before any creature of flesh and blood had walked these lands, all inhabitants within began to awaken, wolves began to leave their dens in search of prey, birds flew from their nests to search for buzzing insects, and wild halla were rising from their resting positions on the forest floor to stretch and begin to feed on the wild grass and low hanging leaves. It had been this way for as long as anyone could remember and this ritual would continue until the forest withered and died, long after the death of the last living creature. This timeless ritual was broken by a scream.

Three men ran through the forest, startling all other life within. They stumbled, tripped, and climbed over each other to get as far away from the place they had come from as they could. They broke through the thick foliage to come face to face with two elves, no not elves _**Dalish**_ , and they both had their bows notched and pointed straight at their chests.

One of them was around the average height of a normal elf, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, that shone with such disgust, he wore simple leather armor and had a curved sword on his hip and a quiver of arrows on his back. But the second elf is what made him recoil in fear, he was taller than his companion, taller than any elf he had seen. He had short black hair and fair skin, and his armor was very different than his companions, while the shorter elf's armor was rather plain, the black haired elf's armor was adorned with feathers and bones and scraps of green cloth embroidered with leaf like patterns and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. And he could just make out a silver chain underneath.

He had a similar curved longsword in a scabbard on his back and he had two curved daggers on his hips, and a quiver of arrows strapped to his lower back, hanging horizontally. But what scared him most was his eyes, they were an unnatural dark shade of orange that held a cold fury as he looked upon him and made him want to cower in fear. Yet he tried to resist the urge and mustered enough courage to speak," g-get out of our way elves, we have no quarrel with you."

The shorter elf sneered," very funny _shem_ , ordering around the one who has a bow pointed at your chest, it's no wonder such intelligent creatures managed to conquer our lands." He swallowed the lump in his throat," look, we didn't even know you owned these woods." The black haired elf chuckled, "we do not own these woods _shemlen_ , you stumbled far too close to our campsite, these lands are wild, free from your kind's corruption." One of his companions interrupted,"look Mister, we meant no offense to you, we were just trying to get away from the cave is all!"

The two Dalish looked at each other in confusion, before the taller elf spoke again," you lie, there are no caves in this forest, only ruins." The third human chimed in," but we have proof! We found this inside, we thought there might have been some treasure inside but we found this instead, before we were chased out by a demon! It even got one of our friends!" The blonde elf took the stone and snorted," so you're thieves than, not bandits." His look of disgust turned to surprise, "is this elvish? I don't recognize this symbol." He tossed the small carved stone to his friend and he appraised it as well for a short while before slipping it into a puch. The dark haired elf's gaze hardened as he looked at the man again, "where is this cave?"

"J-just back the way we came, if that's all we should really be on our way.." He was about to take a step back when they both raised their bows again. The blue eyed elf smiled," ahhh.. but there's still the matter of what to do with you isn't there? We can't risk you telling anyone where we are and we can't leave a group of thieves go unpunished now can we?" He turned to his companion,"what do you think we should do with them l _ethallin_?" The tall elf looked at each of them and thought for a minute and lowered his bow,"let them go, we don't need to taint this forest with their blood, just be sure to not come looking for us or we won't be as merciful next time." The shorter elf sighed in disappointment and lowered his weapon as well and motioned for them to leave. They ran off and none of them ever entered that forest again.

Tamlen turned to Theron and grinned," shall we go find this so called cursed cave?" He returned the smile and nodded in agreement. The duo began to make their way towards the place the humans had come from, neither of them realizing the danger that lurked within.

Out of all of the creatures that resided within the forest, none were as great as the Dalish, the elves who had dedicated themselves to preserving the lost parts of the world and protecting these wild areas that remained untouched from human hands.

It took them nearly an hour to find the cave the humans had told them about, the entrance was small, barely large enough for a grown human to fit through, and was obscured by several bushes. If one was not actively looking for it, they could have easily past it without realizing it was there. They squeezed into the entrance and had to crawl their way through into the first chamber of the cave. There was no light within the cave, if they had been human, they would have been totally blind in this darkness. Thankfully as elves, they could both see as clearly as if it were day.

The room they were in had cracked stone floors and walls, supported by large pillars, but the strangest thing was that the entire place was covered in spider webs. But there was something very wrong with this place, and they could both feel it around them, as if the air itself was angry at their intrusion and wished them to leave. "What is this place?" Tamlen spoke softly, as if his voice would disturb something within this old ruin.

Before Theron could reply, three giant spiders descended around them from the ceiling. They both drew their swords and charged at the creatures. Theron dodged as one spider spit a glob of poison directly at him and charged forward, he plunged his blade into the monsters skull, killing hit. He just barely managed to dodge out of the way as the second spider jumped at him but it let out a cry of pain as it found a dagger in its soft underbelly, it writhed on its back for several second before going still.

Tamlen quickly finished off the spider that was attacking him and walked over and retrieved his dagger from the second spider. They both continued deeper into the ruins, they found themselves at a crossroad that lead to two different paths, but the left tunnel had collapsed, they continued down the right path into a large room filled with coffins. Seven more spiders landed on the floor in front of him, they hissed in anger and charged at them.

While Theron drew his bow and began firing arrows at the spiders while Tamlen charged them with his blade. They quickly dispatched six of them when the last one jumped at Theron. Intending to knock him to the ground, instead of dodging out of the way, Theron smacked the spider with his bow so hard that the weapon cracked in two. The spider landed on its back and cried out in pain, before the spider could flip back over, Theron took an arrow out of his quiver and drove it straight into the creature's stomach, killing it. "Damn it!" Theron cursed, Merrill had carved that bow for him, he was going to get an earful from her when he returned to the camp.

He heard Tamlen laugh,"you broke another one, Theron?" Theron grimaced,"shut up Tamlen, I know I am already going to hear it from Merrill, I don't need to hear it from you as well." Tamlen simply gave him a cheeky grin,"don't worry _Lethallin_ , if you want, I can tell Merrill for you, it won't save you, but it will give you a few hours head start." Theron swung at his head, and he dodged out of the way and laughed.

Theron simply huffed as they continued down another hallway, there was a group of skeletal corpses in the middle of the hall, but that was not what intrigued the duo. In the hallway was an old, worn, statue of an elven man wearing robes, a strange headress, and a skull-like mask, while holding a staff in his hands. Tamlen moved closer to the statue and gasped,"Theron do you know what this is?" He took a closer look at the statue, it's features were almost completely worn away at this point, yet it was still oddly familiar. He shook his head,"I'm not sure what it is, why do you ask?"

Tamlen turned and gave him the widest smile he had ever seen," I think this is a statue of Falon'din!" Theron's eyes widen in surprise, that was why this statue was so familiar to him, he remembered now, in one of master Paivel's old tomes from the dales, there was a chapter about the God of the Dead, about how he would lead the souls of slain elves into the Beyond when they could not find the way on their own. The book also had a drawing of a statue that looked very similar to this one.

"I thought the humans smashed all of the statues of Falon'din when they conquered the Dales?" Tamlen nodded in agreement, "I thought so as well, but this place is nowhere near the old lands, this place might be from the old empire, maybe it was a temple or something dedicated to him?" That would explain all of the coffins they saw before, and the skeletons, but this place still felt off, why would a temple to one of their gods feel so uninviting?

Theron shook his head, "it doesn't matter why its here now, we can come back for it after we finish exploring this place." Tamlen nodded in agreement, they both continued to the end of the hall where the corpses lied around another door, as far as they could see, this was the only way deeper into the temple. But something was very wrong, the unpleasant feeling they were experiencing was growing stronger. With a deep breath, Theron grabbed the door handle. As soon as he touched it, a green mist began to form around them, suddenly the corpses began to rise to their feet, they were hunched over, as if they had a great weight on their shoulders, wearing rusty iron and rotten leathers while wielding dull and broken iron axes and swords.

Tamlen and Theron drew their swords and engaged their foes, but every time they struck the skeletons, their blows did very little. Soon they began to be pushed back by the skeletons down the collapsed hallway, it was clear that the monsters intended to trap them against a wall to keep them from escaping. "We're not affecting them, Theron!" "I know!" he replied, they were running out of time, soon they would be pressed up against the wall and they would have nowhere to go. He made a decision.

Sheathing his sword, he began to concentrate, drawing on the power of the fade, a ball of fire formed in his hands and suddenly, he pushed his hands outward and a large jet of fire consumed the monsters, burning them into ash. He kept the fire going for a few more seconds before letting the fire die out, he inhaled deeply before turning and looking at Tamlen. As expected Tamlen overreacted,"what the fuck was that!" Theron rubbed the back of his neck, "um.. you know how every once in a while I kept disappearing into the woods for days on end? Well… I was sort of trying to teach myself how to use magic."

Tamlen stared at him dumbly,"you went into the forest to teach yourself… why didn't you just tell the keeper? I'm sure she would've trained you." Theron sighed," that's just it Tamlen, you know the clan rules, there can only be three magic users at a time. If Marethari ever knew I could control magic, I would've been moved to another clan or sent off on my own."

Tamlen slowly nodded,"I guess so… but really? You learned to shoot a fireball on your own?" He simply shrugged and nodded. Tamlen chuckled slightly, "what's next? Are you going to tell me you can turn into a dragon or something." Theron laughed in response,"no thats it, just please keep this a secret between us all right?" Tamlen snorted, "you kidding, I'm gonna lord this over you for the rest of our lives! I just found myself my own personal servant." Theron bowed playfully," as you wish _my lord_ , shall we continue to explore this place or shall we continue to stand and gossip in this corner some more.?" Theron felt a slight twinge of guilt for lying to his friend, but he would only be safer if he didn't know about _him_.

They made their way back to the large wooden door and Theron grasped the handle. This time, there was no trap that activated as he pulled the door open. As soon as the door cracked open slightly, they were both hit with the overwhelming stench of rotting meat, piss, and feces. Theron fought the urge to vomit and continued to pull the old door open, inside laid the most horrifying creature they had ever seen, at first they thought it was simply a bear, but its skin was dark and blotchy, the fur was mangled and patchy. It had spikes growing painfully through its back. Its flesh was rotting and its bones were exposed in several places.

The creature began to rise to its feet at their arrival, it stared at them with pale lifeless eyes, it growled in anger and the monster charged at them. Both of the elves managed to dodge out of the way of the charging animal. And the beast crashed through the wall behind them and into the hallway. They both turned around and while Tamlen drew his bow and began firing arrows at the monstrosity, Theron unsheathed his blade and one of his curved daggers and ran towards it. The creature quickly turned around and tried to swipe at his head with one of its large skeletal paws. But Theron managed to dodge the bear's blow and slashed it across the stomach with his knife, but it seemed to have no effect on the monster. The arrows managed to lodge themselves into its frame as well, but it seemed that the bear didn't even realize it had been injured.

He dodged another swipe at his head and before the bear could react, he severed the appendage. But it only seemed to anger the creature as it cried out in pain. The beast ran towards him again, but he stood his ground, at the last second, he sidestepped and brought his sword down on the creatures neck, beheading it.

Theron was panting heavily as Tamlen walked up next to him,"what.. what the hell was that thing?" All he could do was shake his head, he had absolutely no idea what this creature was. Without another word, they began to look around the room, it seemed to be completely empty except for a single stone sarcophagus and a door that led into another room. Theron walked over to the sarcophagus and grunted in exertion as he pushed the lid off, exposing a skeleton with a belt on top of its chest. He took the belt and examined it closely, it was simple in design and was very light in his hands, and it seemed to have not suffered at all from decomposure in the coffin. Shrugging he replaced his own worn and old belt with the ancient one. And he felt a bit lighter and stronger than he had felt before.

They continued through the last door into the largest room of the temple, yet the only thing inside was a large, ornate, golden mirror on a pedestal with a set of stairs leading up to it. "It's beautiful," Theron heard Tamlen whisper, and he could only nod in agreement, there was something oddly intriguing about the mirror and he wanted to take a closer look. Yet the same uncomfortable feeling he had experienced before was back as they both drew closer to the mirror. Every step they drew closer, he wanted to get as far away from the mirror as possible, but he couldn't stop himself, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even tear his eyes away from the mirror.

Now they were standing only a few inches from the mirror and the feeling of dread was so powerful he nearly doubled over, it took all of his willpower to stop himself from touching it. Yet that didn't stop Tamlen from touching the relic, as soon as he touched the mirror, the glass turned black and the room began to begin filling with whispering voices he could not comprehend. And dark energy began to pour out of the mirror while the whispering began to grow louder and louder, in his ears.

" _Get away from the mirror you fool!"_ He heard a voice shouting that seemed so familiar to him, when he suddenly returned to his senses just enough to pull away from the dark artifact and throw himself off the ledge of the pedestal just as an explosion of dark energy washed over him, as he lost consciousness. The last thing he remembered was Tamlen screaming in fear as a large golden hateful eye formed in the mirror and the sound of a dragon's roar.

Theron did not know how long he was unconsciousness, yet when he awoke he found himself alone inside his tent at camp, clothed in soft white linens with his father's armor folded neatly and washed beside his bedroll, yet his weapons were nowhere to be found. Panicking slightly, he grasped at his neck and was relieved to find his mother's necklace was still safely around his neck. "Was it all a dream?" He wondered, and was surprised when a voice answered in reply," _it was no dream, boy."_

Looking up, he could just make out a transparent figure looming over him, " _Falon?"_ The spirit was tall, at least several inches taller than Theron, he had long hair that fell well past his waste, high cheek bones, angular features and cold uncaring eyes. He wore an ornate set of light steel armor and a crown upon his brow. The only indication that this man was not alive was the fact that his body and clothes held no color and he could see right through him, not to mention that only Theron could see or hear him as he learned long ago, when he met his mentor for the first time.

"What happened?" Theron asked as he rose to his feet and began to dress himself. " _You came into contact with a corrupted eluvian."_ Theron turned,"a what?" The ghost stared at him and sighed in annoyance," _an eluvian is a magical artifact that allowed our people to travel great distances, at the height of our empire. But it seems the one you encountered has been corrupted by some_ _form of_ _dark magic, you nearly died when you were exposed to it."_ He was surprised, he nearly died, the only reason he was still alive was that _Falon_ had managed to bring him back to his senses, unlike Tamlen. "Tamlen!" In his confusion, Theron had completely forgotten about his friend, he was lucky that he had gotten away from the mirror at the last moment, but his friend was right next to it when the artifact went off.

Theron finished dressing himself and exited his tent as the ghost faded away for the moment. He looked the around at the chaos the camp was in, everyone was frantically packing and loading the aravels. He managed to navigate his way through the camp and located the Keeper,"Marethari what is going on?" The woman looked surprise to see him,"Theron? I did not expect you to wake up anytime soon." The woman shook her head,"it does not matter, look, I need you to tell me exactly what happened to you and Tamlen out in the forest."

Theron was confused but he answered anyway,"well we encountered three humans out on patrol, who told us they found a cave with some elven ruins inside. We went inside and found a mirror along with some monsters." He saw Marethari's eyes widened and her gaze hardened," Theron, I need you tell me exactly what happened in this cave." So he did, he told her about the giant spiders, the reanimated skeletons, the statue of Falon'din, the large decaying bear like monster, and the corrupted mirror. About the dark energy was unleashed and infected him.

She nodded along and remained silent, he broke it."Marethari, what is happening?" She looked up at him and took a deep breath,"Theron, you were found by a Grey Warden, if he hadn't found you in that cave you would most likely be dead at this point." His eyes widened, a Grey Warden?" The Keeper nodded,"he came to warn us, there are darkspawn encroaching on these lands. We need to leave Ferelden before war breaks out."

"Where is Tamlen?" But Marethari shook her head," I don't know _da'len_ , the warden has gone back to search for him but he has been gone for some time. I need you to listen to me, you need to take Merrill, go back to the cave, and bring them back here. Do you understand me?" Theron nodded in understanding and bowed before leaving.

The first thing he needed to do was get some weapons first, he doubted this warden had taken the time to collect his weapons before bringing him back to his clan. As he began to make his way to master Ilen, he was confronted by Fenarel, who looked at him with worry and surprise," Theron! Thank the gods your alright, where is Tamlen?" He shook his head,"I don't know Fen, the Keeper is sending me to go look for him." His friend nodded,"I see, then I am coming with you." Before he could protest, Fenarel fixed him with a stern look," he is my brother Theron, I need to know if he is alive or not." Theron's shoulders sagged, he couldn't blame Fenarel, he would feel the exact same if he was in his position. The duo continued to make their way through the camp and came across _Hahren_ Pavel and a group of children.

Hahren turned to look at him and his eyes were filled with a mixture of relief and anger." The man embraced him in a tight hug and clapped him on his shoulder," I am glad to see you awake _Da'len._ We all feared that this sickness would be the death of you. How could the two of you have been so stupid! Do you not know how much you risked by going to that cave!"

Theron was confused," What do you mean _Hahren_?" The older man sighed,"You must understand Theron, like many of the other Dalish clans, we are few in number compared to the other races, and every year there are fewer and fewer of us. Every death is a blow to us and losing two of our best warriors would be a great loss, you need to understand that your actions affect more than just yourself. Do you understand?" He nodded,"I am sorry _Hahren,_ I will try and be better about this from now on." The older man looked satisfied,"thank you _Da'len_ , now I have taken enough your time, go on about your business, and stay safe. There are dark days coming."

Theron continued to weave his wave through the camp until he reached master Ilen who smiled at him as he approached," it's good to see you awake again Theron. You are here for some new weapons, yes?"

He nodded and Ilen pulled a new _dar'misaan_ out of a chest along with a halla leather scabbard and handed it to him. Theron admired the blade for a moment before sheathing it,"Master Ilen, would you happen to have a bow for me as well. I'm afraid the one I had was broken in the cave." The man looked thoughtful for a moment before searching through a second chest before pulling out an ornate oak bow with silver halla engraved on it, he looked wistfully at it for several moments before handing it to Theron,"take care of it lad, my father crafted that bow himself and its one of the only things he was able to save from the Dales before the humans took our lands." Theron hesistantly slung the bow on his back, careful to make sure he did not damage such a priceless artifact as he bowed to his elder,"thank you for this generous gift Ilen." The man simply grinned and handed him a quiver of goose feathered arrows.

With his sword on his hip, he made his way to the edge of the camp where Merrill was waiting near the forest. She smiled as her eyes met his and the smaller woman embraced him in a tight hug." I was so worried about you Theron." Merrill looked confused at Fenarel's presence and looked to him with a questioning look," he insisted on coming, how could I deny him this."

Merrill gave him a disapproving look but didn't say anything in retort, the trio walked into the forest, intending to find and rescue their friend.

It took them nearly four hours to find the path to the cave, they walked a path along a cliff side, when suddenly Theron stopped, he felt strange as a burning feeling began to emanate in his chest, near his heart. He groaned in pain when suddenly five horrifying creatures charged out of the trees, they were corrupt, foul, evil looking reptilian creatures with empty and hateful black eyes. They wore twisted and mismatched armor and weapons made of bone and iron, Two of them were as tall as men but their companions seemed to be as small as dwarfs.

The creatures let out a horrifying shriek and charged at them, while Merrill began aid Fenarel by casting bolts of lightning at the creatures, injuring and stunning them. Theron ran towards the two tall creatures while Fenarel attacked the short monsters. Theron dodged under the axe of one creature and severed its leg with his blade, black blood began to pour out of the wound as the creature screamed in agony while clutching, its stump.

While that one was distracted, he turned and barely managed to backpedal away from the sword that intended to sever his head from his shoulders. As Theron regained his footing, the reptilian creature let out a sinister hiss as the two began to circle each other, and Theron dashed forward and slashed at the monster, it managed to block his strike with a **clang**! Theron slashed at it again, going for the creatures left arm, but the creature managed to block him once again. He growled in anger, Theron pushed the blade out of the way with his own and swept the monster's feet out from under it and drove his blade through its stomach.

Theron was breathing quite heavily as he sheathed his blade and saw that Fenarel and Merrill had managed to kill off the smaller creatures. As he walked towards them they both looked at him concerned when Merrill touched his cheek,"Theron? Are you feeling alright?" He was confused,"I feel fine." But they did not look convinced and Fenarel replied,"are you sure _lethallin_? You look pale and you're breathing quite hard for such a quick battle." Theron shook his head, brushing off their concern,"its just the exertion, lets just get moving, there may be more nearby."

Without another word, the trio continued to make their way along the path.

They made their way through the temple following a trail of dead darkspawn and giant spiders to the door that led to the mirror. They passed through the collapsed doorway where the large bear like monster had charged through. Through the final door, they found a dark skinned man in light chainmail armor studying the _eluvian._ He turned to look at him as he entered," ah, I see you have recovered, Theron is it?" He nodded, with a mistrustful look in his eyes," Who are you and what are you doing to the mirror?"

The man bowed,"I am Duncan, leader of the Ferelden branch of the order of the grey wardens." Duncan turned around to face the mirror again and motioned for Theron to stand beside him,"I originally came here to look for your friend, but all I found was the mirror, it seems it is attracting the darkspawn to this area and corrupting the forest. Tell me, what exactly happened here?"

Theron grimaced,"the last thing I remember before waking up was Tamlen touching the mirror, then a giant yellow eye, and Tamlen screaming in fear." Duncan nodded and stroked his beard in deep thought," I see, yes that would explain the.. oh dear." The older man turned to him with a worried look," I am truly sorry Theron, but if what I suspect is true, we need to destroy this mirror immediately, I fear your friend is lost to whatever dark creature you saw that day, as long as the mirror remains, it will continue to corrupt the forest and draw the darkspawn here." Without another word Duncan drew his sword and shattered the mirror with the pommel, shards of glass fell to the floor as a black smoke began to rise out of the remains and disappeared.

Theron was angry," and exactly how do you know that Tamlen is dead?" Duncan shook his head,"even if he managed to evade the darkspawn, without treatment the sickness would have killed him in a matter of hours. Now enough talk, we must leave this place before more darkspawn come, and I have something of great importance to talk to your keeper about."

It was nearly sundown when the trio returned to camp, they did not speak at all on the way back, while Merrill and Fenarel silently mourned their missing brother and friend. Theron was brimming with anger and hate for himself, he should've stopped Tamlen from touching the mirror. Hell, he should've dragged Tamlen out of that place kicking and screaming as soon as the skeletons came to life. They passed through the treeline to find Marethari waiting for them, he grimaced as he saw her hopeful look turn to sadness as she assumed that they failed to find Tamlen.

Marethari turned to Duncan," I assume that Tamlen has passed on?" Duncan simply nodded, Theron wanted to lash out, to yell that Tamlen was still out there somewhere, waiting for him to find them as the darkspawn closed in, but what good would that do? He knew there was no way Tamlen could have survived without treatment, he barely survived with Marethari's aid, he couldn't even imagine what would happen if the sickness progressed any farther.

Marethari finished talking with Duncan who walked in to the camp and she turned to him," Theron, will you tell Paivel to prepare a funeral for Tamlen?" He simply nodded and walked off, he couldn't believe this was happening. It took him a few minutes to locate Paivel and without waiting for him to speak he said,"Marethari wants you to prepare a funeral for Tamlen."

He couldn't stand the look of pity that Paivel gave him as he nodded in understanding," I am sorry _Da'len_ , I will do this right away. Do not mourn him my friend, he is in a better place now." Theron nodded and walked off, he briefly thought about going back to Merrill and Fenarel, but he didn't want their pity, he stopped for a few seconds and turned to his left and continued walking, he needed to talk to Ashalle.

He found her packing up the last of her belongings into a chest and she turned as she heard him approach, she gasped as she saw him and wrapped him in a tight hug."I'm so sorry Theron, I heard what happened to Tamlen." It seemed that the news of Tamlen's death had spread quickly throughout the camp. Her words seemed to ease the pain in his chest slightly and he looked at her and studied her features, her beautiful red hair was starting to go gray at the roots, their seemed to be a few more wrinkles around her eyes than he remembered and he was quite a bit taller than her now. How long had it been since he truly looked at her? Instead of a passing hug and a few quick words of endearment. This was the woman who raised him, who loved him unconditionally when the rest of the clan feared him, she was more of a parent to him than his ever were and he couldn't even remember the last time he sat down and just talked to her.

He relaxed deeper into the hug and his body shook as the tears began to fall, she said nothing and merely held him as he let out his sorrow. She led him over to her campfire and sat him down, she said nothing and waited for him to get a hold of himself," I couldn't save him Ashalle, I left him there to die alone in the dark." His voice cracked, his eyes threatening to tear up once again. The older woman shushed him and wrapped him in another hug," you can't blame yourself for his death Theron, you had no idea what would happen in that cave." Seeing that he was unconvinced she walked over to her chest of belongings and pulled out a small ornate wooden box and handed it to him,"these are a few things that belonged to your mother that I couldn't bear to part with after she died.

He opened the box to find a dagger in a sheathe, and a leather bound journal. He pulled the dagger out of its sheathe to find a short slightly curved blade with a green tinge that glinted in the firelight, it must be made of veridium. It was the only metal he knew of that was green in color.

He saw Ashalle smiling sadly at him, your father gave your mother that knife, it was one of the few things his family managed to bring from our homeland. That journal is your mother's diary, she would write and draw in it every day. He was grateful,"thank you Ashalle." Suddenly another elf walked up to them,"the keeper is looking for you Theron." He nodded and stood up, Ashalle gave him one last hug before he went to his own tent to drop the box off before returning to the keeper.

He found the keeper talking to Duncan in the center of the camp and they turned as he approached them, Duncan was the first to speak,"its good to see you again Theron, the keeper and I have reached an agreement. He was confused," what agreement?" The keeper looked at him sadly," I am sorry _Da'len,_ my magic wasn't strong enough to cure you of the darkspawn taint, only delay it, Duncan has agreed to save your life, in exchange you will join the gray wardens in their war." His eyes widened," but keeper, this is my home! I don't want to fight any human war!" Duncan shook his head,"the darkspawn don't just threaten humanity Theron, if they are not stopped, they will kill every living being on Thedas." Theron continued to shake his head,"I don't care, this is all I've ever known, this is my life! I can't just abandon my people."

Marethari replied," this your destiny my child, you must do this for the good of the people." Theron begged," please don't cast me away, this is where I belong." Duncan sighed," I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice, I invoke the right of conscription, Theron Mahariel of the Sabrae Clan, you have been drafted into the order of the gray wardens." Marethari replied," as keeper of the Sabrae Clan, I acknowledge your rights of conscription and cast Theron out of the clan and name him clanless. "

His fear and sadness turned to rage," damn the both of you! May the Dread Wolf take you both!" He cursed them and stormed off to begin packing his things, now that Marethari had cast him out, he would have no choice but to join the human under threat of death.

He only took the bare essentials, his tent, his weapons and clothes, the mementos Ashalle had given him and his pendant. Duncan allowed him to stay for Tamlen's funeral, the service was short since they lacked a body to bury and were forced to plant a sapling over a grave with just a set of Tamlen's clothes in his place. The clan had come to see him off by the path out of the forest where Duncan was waiting with his horse and one of the clan's own horses used to pull the a _ravels_.

He gave Ashalle, Merrill, and Fenarel each a hug before walking towards the path where Marethari and Duncan waited. The keeper offered him an enchanted silver ring with a tree inscribed on it, he took it and stuffed it into his pocket. Without a word he and Duncan mounted their steeds and began to ride off into the night. He took one last look at his home as the camp grew smaller and smaller the further they rode away. Perhaps one day he would be able to return, that is, if he managed to survive this war between the humans and the darkspawn. They rode to Ostagar, where the events that would change the face of Thedas would begin.

 **Authors Note:** This chapter took a lot longer then I expected. Now were finally moving on to the main story of the game which is good. Here's to hoping the next chapter doesn't take as long.


	3. Reborn

Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

The ride to Ostagar from the _ninque-lasse_ forests took them nearly six days. Mostly in silence, as Theron stewed in his anger and refused to interact with the human who stole him away from his clan to fight a war he wanted no part of. Not to mention _Falon_ had been frustratingly silent throughout the entire journey, it also didn't help that the darkspawn sickness began to return in a few noticeable ways. His skin had become paler, to an unhealthy degree for someone who spent the majority of his life outdoors. A burning sensation began to grow within his chest and every day it would become more and more painful, he was forced to use his magic and certain herbs he came across to dull the pain after it had grown so strong that he passed out once while riding his horse. But worst of all were the nightmares, he dreamed of dark creatures lurking in the shadows, whispering a foul language he could not understand before they rushed out and tore him apart. But he could never quite remember what they looked like the following day.

It was early morning when they arrived at their destination, and Theron was exhausted. But as they rode over one last hill, the duo found themselves looking out over a large clearing across a bridge that lead down into the valley, it was large enough to accommodate four riders and their horses shoulder to shoulder, a ruined fortress bigger than any building he had ever seen, and another bridge that led up a canyon to a recently restored watchtower that extended upwards into the sky, as if it was attempting to touch the sun itself. But what was most impressive to him was the thousands of tents scattered around for miles in every direction, and the encampment was surrounded by walls made of sharpened logs. To prevent any darkspawn sneaking into the camp in the middle of the night. He was in awe, the entire army of Ferelden must be hear to engage the darkspawn hordes. As they rode down towards the bridge a dozen knights in silver plate rode out to greet them, but what interested him most was the man riding in the center of the phalanx.

He was noticeably taller than his companions, and wore a suit of ornate golden armor with a long sword sheathed on his hip and a golden helmet with a white plume whipping in the wind. Duncan motioned for him to dismount and the group of knights did the same. The man in gold walked towards Duncan who kneeled to the tall man, Theron heard him laugh as he caught the sight of Duncan on his knees." You know I hate it when you kneel to me!" The golden knight removed his helmet to reveal a young highborn human with regal features, hair the color of the sun, and eyes the color of the sky.

This man struck him as beautiful, like a knight out of an old fairy tale, on a quest to save a princess from a tower guarded by dragons. Theron was broken out of his revelry when one of the knights addressed him."Kneel before the king savage! You stand before King Cailan, ruler of Ferelden!" And suddenly his anger was reignited as he shot a hateful glare towards the human. But he was surprised when Cailan backhanded the man and sent him an angry look,"you will do well to remember that any and all members of the gray wardens are friends to the crown, Alexander. Loghain may tolerate this type of behavior from you, but I will certainly not! Now leave my sight before I decide you need a more severe punishment than just a bruised cheek and ego." Without a word, the man bowed before shooting a dirty look at him while rubbing the spot that the king had struck, before mounting his horse and riding back to the encampment.

As soon as the man left, Cailan turned his attention back to him and gave him a kind smile,"forgive me, friend, any associate of Duncan is welcome here!" The king held out his hand, waiting for Theron to shake it, but Theron refused,"I do not need your pity human lord. I am used to your kind treating my people like trash." Cailan withdrew his hand, but the smile did not leave his face,"I understand, I meant no offense, you are dalish are you not? I heard your people are great warriors."

Theron crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes in suspicion," I thought your kind considered us to be a bunch of mindless savages that need to be exterminated." But instead of getting upset or agitated, the human king had the audacity to laugh,"true enough, true enough, there are many who believe that, but I respect your peoples resolve to not submit after everything you endured."

Cailan shook his head and turned to his soldiers,"return to the camp and inform Loghain that Duncan of the Gray Wardens has arrived, and that we should begin to plan our strategy soon. Without a word, the knights gave a curt bow before remounting their steeds and began to ride back towards the encampment at a brisk pace. As soon as they left, the king flashed them both a dazzling smile,"shall I give you both a tour of Ostagar?"

The trio spent the rest of the morning touring the encampment after leaving their steeds at a makeshift stable, they traveled throughout the rows of tents, to the training areas where knights and soldiers prepared themselves with last minute drills before the coming battle, the medical ward where injured soldiers were being treated after encountering darkspawn patrols, and the dog pens where the dark skinned Chasind, with their leather armor, painted faces, and stone axes, tended to the hounds. Cailan was telling him how the Chasind were a tribe of humans who had inhabited the Korcari Wilds before the nation of Ferelden was founded and were forced to join the king when the darkspawn began to attack and kill their villages.

But Theron was only half listening as he spotted a group of gray wardens eating around an old withered tree, but what really caught his attention was a man with dirty blonde hair who looked strangely similar to the king. They could almost be mistaken for twins, but this warden was at least a few years older than Cailan himself. His eyes were not the same bright blue as the king, instead they were a dull muddy brown, he seemed to be a few inches shorter, and instead of wearing glimmering gold plate, he wore plain and dull chain mail. Theron nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he heard Cailan laugh at his surprise."I'm sorry my friend, but me and Duncan have other duties to attend to, at the moment. Why don't you take the time to acquaint yourself with your brothers to be while Duncan prepares your initiation trial?"

Theron absentmindedly nodded as the king and Duncan rode off. But instead of walking towards the gray wardens, he made his way back to the dog pens. There he found a man tending to a sickly looking hound laying on its side, on a table, its breathing was shallow and whimpered in pain as the man examined the dog before pouring a green paste mixed with water down the animals' throat. He looked up as Theron approached,"what's wrong with it?" Theron asked him, the man sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "this mabari ingested some darkspawn blood while trying to save his master, now he's barely clinging to life." Theron felt bad for the creature, he knew better than anyone at how painful the taint could be, and the creature didn't have the benefit of magic to dull the effects."Is there anything that can be done to help it?" The man looked thoughtful for a moment,"I can make a cure if you find me a white flower with red tipped leaves in the forest. Hell, it might even bind itself to you if you save it."

Seeing the confused look on his face, the handler explained,"this breed of warhound are extremely intelligent and choose their masters for life. But if their master is killed, they can sometimes bond with someone else. Do you understand?" Theron nodded and replied,"if I come across the flower you need, I'll get it for you." The man looked grateful,"thank you."

Theron continued to wander around the camp for a few hours, taking in the sights while ignoring the people who sent him glares or hollered at him. He chose to ignore them, knowing it would just make them angrier. Three men blocked his path, smelling strongly of alcohol." look wat we go ere boys! Its one of em savage fores elfs!" Theron tried his best to control his anger, knowing it would only end badly if he lost control. Gritting his teeth, he responded,"get out of my way _**shems.**_ I'm not in the mood to deal with your kind at the moment."

The leader of the trio laughed,"to goo fur us are ya? Suppose we can't really compare to tha king can we? Esplain to us den why tha king would waste hes time on a sickly wurm like you?" Before Theron could react, the man took a step forward and punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to his knees. The two other men laughed and jeered at him while their leader stood over him looking smug. But Theron couldn't hear them, his vision began to blur, his breathing began to quicken. While the punch had only knocked the wind out of him, it had broken his concentration, and now he was feeling the full agony of the darkspawn taint coursing through his body.

He struggled to his feet, trying desperately to suppress the pain, but what finally set him off was the three drunk men's laughter."Wat's da matter knif-ear? Did tha hurt?" Suddenly the damn broke, the mixture of pain and humiliation finally set him off, he saw red as he lunged at the closest one. He knocked him to the ground and began to punch the man over and over again until his face was a bloody mess. The two other men pulled Theron off of their friend and tried to force him to the ground, but Theron slammed his elbow into the man on the right's nose. The man yelled in pain and clutched his face, while that one was distracted, Theron turned and punched the other one in the throat. The man fell to his knees and began coughing and choking.

As Theron began to calm down as the adrenaline faded and his magic began to take over again. He looked at the bloody and crumpled forms of the three men. Theron looked around and saw everyone looking at him with a mixture of fear and loathing. But he didn't care, they just stood around and watched as the three men assaulted him. Turning on his heel, Theron began to walk in the opposite direction at a brisk pace.

" _That was a stupid thing to do Lethallin,"_ Theron looked to his left to see the whitish blue form of his friend walking beside him with his arms folded behind his back." So now you decide to show up?" Theron muttered under his breath, doing his best not to draw attention to himself." _you had no need of me at the time, and it wouldn't do us any favors by revealing myself to the warden_." Theron begrudgingly nodded in understanding, and responded."What would have you done in my situation then?"

" _Ignore them, worms do not deserve the attention of true warriors like us_. _Now that you have humiliated them in front of their comrades, it will only serve to fan the flames of anger in them._ _They will come seeking vengeance eventually, after all, what is the life of an elf to them_?" Theron snorted,"cowards like them wouldn't dare murder a gray warden, not even they are that stupid." _Falon_ nodded in agreement," _true enough, but I would suggest sleeping with one eye open tonight, murder under the cover of shadows would do little to implicate them in a sea of thousands of others who barely tolerate our kind."_

 _Falon's_ form faded away once more as Theron continued to make his way towards the gray warden encampment. There he found hundreds of wardens scurrying around doing menial tasks, sharpening their blades, polishing armor, fletching arrows, and other sorts of odd jobs in preparation for the coming battle. He made his way to a large tent with a golden griffon sown onto the flap and entered, there he found Duncan and three men, standing around a large wooden table with a map sprawled out across it."Ah Theron, I was just about to send someone out to retrieve you. These are Jory and Daveth, they are going to undergo the Joining ritual alongside you, Jory was a tall pale man with short orange hair, in full plate armor and a great sword strapped to his back. Daveth in contrast was short and had a dark tan with black messy hair. He wore loose fitting clothes and two daggers strapped to his hips. They both acknowledged his presence with a nod and curious looks, not expecting the third recruit to be an elf.

But what surprised Theron was the third man, it was the same one he saw earlier that looked eerily similar to king Cailian." This is Alistair, he will be the one who leads you into the wilds on your first mission. Unlike Daveth and Jory, Alistair walked up to him with a grin and extended his hand in greeting, and Theron hesitantly shook it."A pleasure to meet you, its not every day you get to meet a dalish who gets a personal tour from the king and gets in a fist fight with three soldiers mere hours after arriving at the camp." Theron grimaced,"you heard about that already?" Alistair laughed,"heard about it? I watched it! It was incredible! One second they were laughing over your crumpled body, the next they were all on the ground nursing broken bones! I remember this one time when-,"

"Alistair, I think that's enough for now." Duncan interrupted the younger man who rubbed his neck sheepishly,"sorry Duncan," and for the first time since meeting him, Theron saw Duncan crack a smile. "It's no matter, now, before the joining ceremony can commence. The four of you need to go out and collect a few things. First, you need to kill some darkspawn and collect their blood, it is crucial for the ceremony, afterwards, Alistair will lead you to an abandoned tower where a collection of old treaties dating back to before the wardens were banished from Ferelden. I know each of you are skilled enough to accomplish this task, good luck and may the Maker guide you."

Alistair motioned for the trio to follow him out of the tent and led them towards a gate that led out into the wilderness. He turned to them and said,"alright men, we only have a few hours to accomplish our mission before the darkspawn horde arrives. We go in and out before they even know we're there. Let's move!" The massive gate swings open and the four of them sprinted into the forest. The gate slamming shut behind them.

For nearly an hour the group jogged into the swampy forest, passing tree after tree, making sure to stick to the old paths carved by the Chasind many centuries ago. To prevent any of them from

falling in and drowning in the murky waters. Soon they came across a small campsite and a ruined archway with three grisly corpses with blood flies buzzing around them, half rotted and eaten, hanging above. Theron looked in disgust at the bodies, Alistair caught him looking at the cadavers,"they're just deserters, there's no need to pity them." He was taken aback by the look Theron gave him,"this is wrong no matter what the crime is, no one deserves to die like **this.** " He said, pointing at the bodies. Drawing his sword, he cut the rope around the tree holding up the bodies with one slash, and the three bodies fell to the ground and exploded in a shower of gore. Lastly he shot a fireball at the ruined bodies, bursting into flames they burned into nothing but ash and blackened bone after a few minutes. The smell of burning rotten meat lingered in the air. Alistair was shocked,"you're a mage?!" Theron sent him a glare and Alistair flinched,"my people do not fear our power. Magic made us masters of this world once, and it is what protects us from **your** kind." Turning, Theron began to explore the camp.

Something caught Theron's eye, the light of the flames glinted off of something in the fire pit. He kneeled down and dug through the ashes to pull out a small wooden box with a bronze latch. He opened the box to find a small leather pouch filled with coins, gems, and a note that read," to my beloved wife Jenny, I know this will never reach you, but I am losing too much blood and the darkspawn are coming, I can't bear the thought of them finding this. It is all of the money I have left since joining the army, I hope that whoever finds this will bring it to you in Redcliffe, I love you."

Without hesitating, he tossed the note into the fire. Who cared what the money was intended for? He slipped the pouch into his pocket and stood up again. But Theron was overcome with a strange feeling, he felt as if he was being watched. Looking around, he didn't see anyone around them, nor did he hear anything. But he caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned to look at a crow on a tree branch. It stared at him silently and he refused to break eye contact. With a single **caw**! The bird flew off deeper into the forest. Theron let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Seeing that the rest of his team were finished searching the area, Alistair led the group deeper into the forest.

The path deeper into the forest began to become more treacherous and overgrown the farther they traveled. As if the forest itself rejected their presence, a vine would trip one of them and they would fall, a low hanging branch left a nasty gash on Jory's face, the trees would groan in discomfort every time the wind blew. Voicing their opposition, telling them they did not belong here in this wild place untouched by men for thousands of years. But directly in front of them was a fallen log with a flower growing out of it. Stepping closer, Theron examined it closer and realized that it was the flower the beastmaster was looking for. He took out his dagger and cut the stem, and dropped it into his bag.

Suddenly the noise stopped, the wind stopped blowing and all of the forest creatures were silent. Alistair cursed,"Shit! Get down!" Suddenly the forest erupted into a flurry of black arrows as all around them darkspawn fired upon the group. Alistair managed to raise his shield in time to block the projectiles while Theron and Daveth hid behind the log. Jory was not so lucky, with a single cry, his body was riddled by the dark weapons and he crumpled to the cold ground in a bloody heap.

As the darkspawn began to draw their bows once more, the wardens charged. They drew their blades with a war cry and began to hack and slash at the nearest abominations. Theron skewered one on his curved blade and dagger, he sent a flaming projectile at another. The creature screamed in fear and pain as it frantically batted at the flames. While that one was distracted, he used the body of the beast on his blade as a shield to block several more arrows. They struck with a sickening **squelsh**! Theron dropped the riddled creature and jumped back into the fray.

Meanwhile Daveth and Alistair fought in tandem, hacking and slashing at the darkspawn with a flurry of quick stabs and strikes with their blades. Seeing that a darkspawn was preparing to fire another arrow at Alistair while he was busy beheading one of its brothers, Daveth threw one of his daggers which found its way to the creatures throat. Daveth just barely dodged out of the way of a twisted iron axe and stabbed the creature in the arm, causing it to drop the twisted weapon. Daveth managed to catch it and lodged the weapon into the creatures skull, cleaving it in two.

"Duck!" Daveth obeyed the command just in time to dodge Alistair's shield as it struck the darkspawn sneaking up behind him and crushed its larynx, killing it. The trio quickly dispatched the few remaining creatures before they could escape. Covered in black blood, the warriors cleaned and retrieved their weapons before sheathing them and approaching their fallen comrade.

Alistair stared mournfully at Jory and shook his head," a shame, I heard he had a child on the way in Highever." Walking over to the nearest darkspawn, he removed the head to let a stream of black blood to start pouring out. Alistair pulled out a glass bottle from his pack and began to fill it with the foul substance. As soon as it was full he corked the bottle and slipped it back into his bag before turning and addressing the remaining two recruits. "All right, the first part of the mission is complete, Jory's death doesn't change anything. We continue making our way to the tower. Silently nodding, Theron and Daveth followed Alistair deeper into the forest, leaving their fallen ally behind.

The sun was beginning to dip to the west when they found the ruined tower. Left exposed to the elements, it was little more than a few walls and collapsed pillars and they ascended a set of stairs to a small courtyard with a chest lying broken open in the center. Alistair cursed,"great! Fucking fantastic! Not only did Jory die, but the treaties are gone as well!"

"Are all wardens so eager to give up?" A woman with pale skin, dark hair, and golden eyes stepped out from behind a pillar. She wore a set of loose fitting black and red robes adorned with raven feathers that showed a generous amount of skin and she held a twisted staff of ebony in her hands. Alistair and Daveth drew their blades in surprise,"who are you and what are you doing here?" The woman's cool gaze glanced towards Alistair and a shiver ran down his spine,"someone who has been watching you since you entered my forest." Her gaze drifted to Daveth for a moment before moving to Theron who stood with his arms crossed against his chest with a look of curiosity.

"It seems the elf holds more courage than these men, you are gifted with magic are you not? It is strange to find an elf among the wardens, much less one who holds such power as yourself. No? What is your name?" Alistair swore he was seeing things at that moment, because it looked like Theron was **amused** bythis terrifying woman."I am Theron Mahariel of the dalish clan of Sabrae, and who might you be?"

The corner of this woman's mouth twitched upwards as she let out an amused chuckle,"now that is a right proper greeting! You don't usually see a dalish in these parts, especially one that is skilled in magic. You may call me Morrigan. Now what pray tell are you doing in my forest?" Daveth hands twitched as he glanced at Theron,"careful what you tell her. There are old tales of witches inhabiting these forests. Who seduce chasind men and cook them alive!"

The woman glared at him and Daveth recoiled as if he had been struck," trust me, little man, if I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have even known I was here. And lets say I **am** a so called witch of the wilds, what exactly would you do about it?" Alistair shook his head in anger,"this is pointless. She is obviously messing with us and the treaties are gone. Come on Theron, we need to return to camp before nightfall."

Alistair began to turn to leave when Morrigan spoke,"so you search for the gray warden treaties then?" He stopped in his tracks,"you know what we speak of?" She nodded,"aye, my mother has been keeping them safe until the wardens came for them. If you will follow me I will take you to her." Without waiting for them to follow, Morrigan began to walk deeper into the forest off of the old paths, without hesitance, Theron followed after her. A moment later, Alistair and Daveth looked at each other before following after the duo.

Morrigan led them deeper and deeper into the dark forest, the sun could not pierce the canopy far above, and the entire forest became enshrouded in darkness. As the last dregs of light faded and they were consumed in shadow, a silvery white light began to emanate from the tip of Morrigan's staff. The forest around them was barely illuminated, he could just about see the outlines of his companions and the area around him. It must be worse for them, they did not have the benefit of his elven sight in this consuming darkness, suddenly his foot fell and something snapped beneath, looking down he found a bone cracked clean in two. He looked closer at his surroundings, he was shocked, the entire forest was dead.

The ground was littered in the bones of hundreds of animals, some Theron recognized, others were completely alien to him. No, they weren't just the bones of animals, he could make out a few that were distinctly _human_ , as well as a few pieces of broken metal and cloth that must have been armor once _._ The shrubs and plants were twisted and mangled and black, the trees struggled and fought with each other to escape the choking darkness, climbing upwards to search for the sun that would never reach them.

Morrigan stopped in the center of the mass grave, Alistair and Daveth huddled closer to her and the source of light in fear of this evil place. Theron stood next to her, deep in thought, he debated whether or not to conjure a ball of flame to help expand the light, but he feared that it would only disturb this ancient place. He could hear Alistair let out an audible gasp and he could see the outline of his form shifting, as if he was preparing to draw his sword. Morrigan whispered in a hushed tone,"do not do anything foolish, idiot. _They_ are watching and won't tolerate us for much longer, especially if you threaten _them_.

Theron saw what had scared his companion, movement all around them. He could make out their forms just about, hunched over on all fours yet they were vaguely human. Long tails dragging through the dirt behind them, white sharp teeth glinted in the silver light. They were all around, too many to count, just outside of their vision, in the trees, stalking in circles around them, all was silent except for a constant low, _hiss!_ " We must go, it has been a long time since a traveler has entered their domain, and they are hungry."

Again the company moved, slowly, every time one became too bold, Morrigan flashed her light and the beast recoiled in fear and hate. And every time he saw more and more parts of their forms, black spiny skin, long limbs, fangs and claws, an elongated skull with unseeable eyes. They were drawing close to the edge of the forest, slivers of light began to pierce the darkness, but still the creatures came. Before Theron realized what was happening, he heard the sound of blades being drawn and Morrigan and Alistair screaming, "No!" The fear had gotten to Daveth, he drew his knives.

Then they were sprinting to the treeline, he could here the stampede of hissing and pounding of feet upon ground and dragging tails, every moment they grew louder and louder. Alistair was the first to pierce the treeline into a clearing, then Morrigan, being the two fastest of the group. But Theron and Daveth were still lagging behind, still a few feet away.

Theron was close to the edge of the forest but he stopped in his tracks when he heard the tearing of flesh and Daveth's scream. He turned and saw that one of the demons' tails had pierced Daveth's leg, now lying on the ground, clutching the dirt in terror. Then it was too late. Hands, so many hands, large and black with long claws. Covering his body, all over, his legs, his chest, his arms, his head, all except his mouth."Help me!" He cried, but it was too late, a final hand clamped over Daveth's mouth and the creatures dragged him back into the darkness.

Theron, half mad with fear, turned and scrambled towards the treeline, but in his haste he tripped, whether it was an unfortunate root or a bone of another victim. He could hear them now, drawing closer and closer, that same insufferable _hiss!_ In his ears, they took their time, soaking up his fear. But suddenly, the forest was engulfed in silverish blue light, the beasts cried in fear and anger at the intrusion. Theron, shaking and quivering, turned and saw what was driving the creatures back, The forest around him was now basked in the cleansing light, and he could see them all now, a hundred, two hundred, a thousand perhaps? He truly could not tell, but in front of him was his savior, it was him, _Falon_ , brighter than the sun itself.

 _Falon_ held up his hands and silver fire erupted around them both, driving the creatures further back into the darkness. And hope and courage started to return to him, he found the will to struggle back up to his feet. And then _Falon_ spoke, commanding the ancient evil creatures, " _At saura_ _fuin! Tye hold lala tur lok sur esse sina nor o' ungo! An ni am El'garnan! Tar o' ha'raj! Yondo o' urin ar nenar ar cemen! Mar untul o' lala tare, yet ni cui uril tare! Si at ni eques! At minna I ungo uril tare as tye! At yenya ni cast tue torne ve ni dala tarlin anann imea!"_ Holding up one hand, a sword made of silver flame was wrought in the fashion of a blade of old Arlathan, burning away any beast that had come too close and struck with fear for their greatest enemy, they fled back into the darkness. _Falon_ turned and saw Theron's awestruck look," _save your questions for later my friend, your companions are waiting for you. But they will leave you here if you do not leave immediately."_ Theron nodded and turned to leave the forest, as the spirit faded away once more, the forest was once again encased in shadow.

He found Alistair and Morrigan fifty yards away from the black forest, Alistair was curled up into a ball and laying on his side. Muttering incomprehensible things to himself, Morrigan faired a bit better. She paced back and forth, muttering the same thing to herself,"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Nearly got killed by a fucking warden! Sloppy, mother would be ashamed if she knew..." Morrigan stopped when she saw his approach," you live? Then I assume the fool did not make it?" Theron could only nod dumbly, unsure how to comprehend what had happened. She sighed,"very well, then we must continue." She kicked Alistair in the ribs, rousing him from his stupor."Up fool!, we are nearly there."

Silently he rose, a haunted look in his eye, as the duo silently followed their guide. It was nearly another hour before they arrived at a small lake with a hut situated next to it."W-what were those things?" Morrigan turned to Theron,"you already know what they are." Theron shuddered, and Alistair turned to him,"what are the two of you babbling on about, what the hell are those things?" Theron swallowed the lump in his throat, and recounted one of the old tales of Hahren Pavel," they are remnants of the old world, when the world of demons and men and darkness were one. Creatures from the great abyss, the hounds of the forgotten ones. Who rose against king Elgar'nan in the first days of this world." Alistair looked incredulous,"are you meaning to tell me that those things were some kind of old elven monster?" Theron simply nodded and the conversation ended their. "Come, it's not much farther now." Morrigan motioned for them to follow her, and they continued deeper into the forest. Away from the darkness.

They followed Morrigan for nearly an hour, and gradually the trees began to become more and more sparse, until finally the forest opened up to a clearing with a two story wooden hut next to a small lake.

As they approached, Theron noticed an old woman sitting on a stump, looking out onto the lake. The woman rose as she heard their approach, she was hunched over slightly, had gray hair and golden eyes similar to her daughter."So the wardens have finally come have they?" The woman's gaze pierced through Theron, and he felt a strange power emanating from the woman, it was alien to him yet unnervingly familiar." Wait here _Elvhen_ , I will retrieve your scrolls."

The old woman hobbled into the hut, and the door closed shut behind her, the trio was left in an awkward silence for several minutes until the old woman reappeared, she carried a simple wooden box about a foot long and three feet wide. She handed the box to Theron, he opened it and found three scrolls. The paper had turned yellow and cracked with age, but the golden crest of the warden's griffon still glittered on each scroll as the day the scrolls were created." It is impressive how your friend managed to ward off the _ungo non_ on his own." Theron swallowed, his mouth was dry" y-you saw that?"

The old woman nodded, keeping her voice low to make sure Morrigan and Alistair could not hear them," these are my forests, boy, I know all that comes and goes here. The creatures here serve as my eyes and ears, even my guard dogs you encountered." Theron was awestruck, he had heard of mages who could control the minds of lesser creatures, but on such a large scale… "Who are you?" The woman gave him a close-lipped smile,"I have had many names over the years child, but most know me as Flemeth." His heart skipped a beat," _Ashabellanar?_ Forgive me my lady! I did not realize you dwelt in these lands, if I had known-" Flemeth cut him off,"it is no matter boy, it does not matter now, take the scrolls back to your master. The wardens will need them in the times to come," Theron had many more questions, but Flemeth waved them off."Morrigan will lead you back to your camp, do not tell anyone that we were here or you will wish that the beasts had taken you." She repeated the same message to Alistair before Morrigan led them back the way they came.

Morrigan led them back through the path they had taken to Flemeth's hut, they passed through the cursed forest once more but the beasts were nowhere to be found, and neither was Daveth. It was near midnight when they came in sight of the wooden gate of the camp when Alistair spoke up."Well I suppose this is where we part ways, thank you for your.. er… help Morrigan." She ignored him and turned her attention to Theron," it has been interesting meeting you, Dalish, it is not often when one manages to impress my mother, she will be watching your exploits closely." Before Theron could reply, his vision blurred and all he could see was darkness for several moments, and by Alistair's cry of surprise he was suffering the same affliction, but several moments later his vision returned to him and Morrigan was gone.

Alistair turned to Theron,"well, this has been one of the shitiest missions I have ever been part of, come on, we should go find Duncan. As they made their way back to the warden encampment, Theron dropped off the flower to the beastmaster who thanked him and handed him a few silver pieces for his efforts. Soon they found themselves back at Duncan's tent and found him waiting inside, pouring over several reports on his table. He looked up and Theron could see the sadness in his eyes,"I assume Daveth and Jory didn't make it?" Alistair spoke,"they both fell in battle fighting the darkspawn, they died well. But we managed to accomplish our mission" Alistair pulled out the bottle of darkspawn blood from his pack and Theron removed the scrolls from his bag, he was surprised at how easily Alistair lied through his teeth to his commander, It seems his fear of Flemeth overwhelmed his sense of honor.

Duncan nodded in approval,"good, good, then there is no more need to wait any longer, the ritual should commence before the battle begins." Duncan led the both of them to an old stone pavilion away from the main encampment their was a small stone table in the center and the four pillars held freshly lit torches. On the table was a silver goblet with the warden's griffon emblazoned on the front of it, Duncan uncorked the glass bottle and poured the foul contents into the goblet, as soon as the goblet was filled to the brim, Duncan took out a small vial made of diamond on a chain from around his neck. The liquid seemed to shift colors in the torchlight, one moment it was red, than it was black, than purple, and red again. He carefully poured a single drop into the goblet and the blood changed from black to a dark purple color. Carefully, Duncan raised the goblet, careful not to spill the contents, and handed it to Theron."Drink," Duncan commanded and Theron hesitated for a moment before drinking deeply of the foul concoction.

It was awful, it tasted of muck and dirt, and rotting meat and every foul thing he could remember. And the pain! The pain! The pain of the darkspawn taint increased tenfold, and he doubled over and fell to his knees, dropping the goblet and the contents spilled out onto the ground. Coughing and gagging, he could barely breathe, his vision began to blur and he passed out.

He awoke a moment later, not knowing where he was lying on his back. He slowly rose to his feet, he felt odd, and then he realized the pain was gone. It had been so long that he did not even remember what it was like before the taint burned within him. And his skin had regained some of its lost color, turning he found Duncan and Alistair waiting. Duncan held out his left hand which held a necklace of a demons head made of glass and filled with darkspawn blood."This pendant marks you as one of us, brother Theron. To always remind you of the burden we bear and the one we protect others from." Theron stepped forward and placed the necklace around his neck, it hung next to the dragon pendant that belonged to his mother. Alistair stepped forward, he held a folded set of armor, and handed it to Theron." This armor shows your status as a soldier dedicated to the peace our lives are dedicated to protecting, wear it proudly as you stand among us."

Theron removed his fathers armor and clothed himself in the new armor, it consisted of a pair of steel gauntlets, boots, and a steel and leather chestplate emblazoned with the golden griffon of the wardens. He tied the belt he found in the old temple around his waist and reattached his quiver to his back and his sheathes containing his sword and dagger on his hips, lastly he slung the bow master Ilen had given him just before he left over his shoulder.

Duncan spoke once more,"Theron Mahariel of the Sabrae clan, child of the old dales and the ancient elves, do you swear to dedicate your life to protecting this realm from the darkspawn horde and the archdemon that leads them?" Theron replied,"I do." "Recite our oath and you shall be one of us at last,"

Theron recounted the oath that Duncan had taught him on their journey to Ostagar, away from the only life he ever knew to an uncertain future.

" Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you. In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice."

Duncan nodded in approval,"welcome to the gray wardens Theron. Now come, it is time to plan for the coming battle." Silently as if he was a wraith himself, Theron followed his new brothers, to a future that was all but unknown to him, and a past that he could never return to behind him.

 _Translated from elvish: Back! Foul demons! Back into the darkness with you! You will not harm us servants of the forgotten ones! For I am El'garnan! King of kings! Ruler of this world and your doom! For I have returned to reclaim what is rightfully mine once more! And never shall the shadows rule where I go!_

Author's Note: If you are wondering what Theron's armor looks like, look up the armor of the elven warden mod for dragon age origins.

 _Ungo non –_ Shadow born

 _Ninque-Lasse:_ White tree


	4. Failure

Chapter 3: A Lost Cause

As soon as the Joining ceremony was over, the trio split up once more. Duncan went back to the king's tent in order to finish planning for the coming battle, Alistair headed towards the Warden camp in order to find something to eat, and Theron searched for a quiet and deserted part of the camp where he and his friend could speak in private. Settling on the deserted training grounds, Theron double-checked to make sure no one was nearby before speaking, " we need to talk _Falon_."

The ghostly figure appeared in front of him with his arms crossed," I assume you have many questions for me?" Theron was incredulous, "do I have… You're damn right I have questions for you! You've been with me my entire life and you hid from me the fact that you are one of our people's missing gods until a couple of hours ago! Didn't you think it was the least bit important to let me know that I had the spirit of my people's missing king riding around with me in my head!?"

Elgar'nan held up a hand, " I understand that you are upset about my deception but I had my rea-" Theron interrupted him," fuck your reasons! My best friend is dead because you didn't save him! My life is ruined because you didn't cure me of this damn taint when you could have before the wardens stole me from my clan! The spirit tried to speak, "if you would just let me exp-" "Shut the hell up you bastard!" Theron's rage wouldn't let his ally's words calm him; "my people have been looking for you for thousands of years! We have been enslaved and humiliated by the humans for generations! Nothing remains of our civilization except ruins, and you self-entitled bastards didn't do anything to stop it! Why should I-"

"Enough!" The white aura surrounding Elgar'nan flared wildly with his rage, the dead king raised his own hand to his throat and grasped it as if he planned to choke himself. And suddenly Theron found that he couldn't breathe anymore, "you will listen and listen well boy, I have inhabited this body just as long as you have, I could take control of you at a moments notice but I haven't as a sign of good faith. Now, will you let me speak or shall I wait until you wake up again in a few hours?" Theron silently nodded in agreement, all traces of anger had been replaced by fear and confusion. "Good." He released his grip and Theron coughed and sputtered as he sucked in the precious air.

It took several hours but Elgar'nan did explain everything, how Fen'harel had betrayed them, how he used their power to create the barrier that separates the fade and Thedas, and how their spirits were separated and trapped where they could not help their kind as their society collapsed with the loss of the Elvhen's immortality and magic. "You must understand Theron, I do not intend to cause you harm, it took all of our combined power to just get my spirit through the barrier, most of my power has been lost, my body is long dead, I had no other choice but to attach myself to you before your birth. I know our absence has hurt our people, but if you accept my teachings and knowledge we could save our kind! Let me teach you the ways of magic and combat in the old ways and none will be able to stand against you, together we could reunite our people and defeat Fen'harel, wherever he is now. What do you say?" Theron thought about it, his people's dependence on the gods led to Arlathan's collapse along with the rest of the empire once they disappeared, could he really trust them to not fail again? But on the other hand… The elvhen are suffering, their history is all but gone, their spirit crushed, even what home they had in this new world of men was taken from them. No, anything was better than this, he knew his decision.

"Very well, Elgar'nan, I will trust in your teachings and help you reunite our people." The ghostly king smiled, "you will not regret this my friend, I will craft you into the greatest warrior and ruler this world has ever scene. No one will be able to stop us, now go and rest, once this battle is over and the darkspawn are defeated we will begin your lessons, no more cheap parlor tricks, your magic will be the greatest this world has scene since the days of our kingdom. With that, Elgar'nan faded away once more, Theron was exhausted, and slowly he walked back towards his assigned tent and was surprised to find a bowl of beef stew, a chunk of bread and cheese as well as a skin of wine inside of his tent. Sitting on top of the skin was a note, " _for a job well done and a successful Joining. –A"_ Theron smiled, perhaps his companion wasn't as bad as he first seemed to be. After finishing his meal, Theron tucked his parent's belongings inside of the pile of furs, making sure they were well hidden from any thieves. Slowly he drifted off to sleep, and he dreamt of a beautiful woman with golden eyes.

 _ **A few hours later…**_

Theron slept well for the first time in weeks, Alistair had come to wake him once reports of the darkspawn came flooding in to the camp. Duncan had assigned them to protecting the tower, their job was to make sure the fire was lit in case the battle took a turn for the worse so Loghain's forces would join the fray. Alistair complained about it at first but both of them were secretly glad for it, neither of them cared much for the idea of being in the thick of the final battle. They stood on the bridge that led up to the ancient watchtower, laid along the path was a row of ballista's intended to take down any ogre that came too close. In the distance they saw approaching flames as the darkspawn drew closer and closer, but still there was no sign of the Archdemon.

A drop of rain tickled his scalp, a few moments later two more struck his shoulder, and in an hour it was pouring with rain as thunder and lightning boomed across the sky. They stood for hours in the rain alongside the sentinels stationed on the bridge, his body was stiff from a lack of movement and the cold of the rain but he refused to move, he watched the mass of fire draw closer and closer, and it wasn't long before he heard the sound of drums and foul horns as the horde drew closer and closer. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the approaching doom, then he saw them clearly. At the front of the horde was a huge darkspawn, taller than any man or elf he had ever seen, it rode on the back of a corrupted darkspawn bear, strapped to its back was a large bone cleaver surrounded by an aura of disgusting green magic. Flanked on either side of him were two Ogres with giant drums made of human skin strapped to their chests, they beat the infernal drums with their fists creating an unsettling music. But the most terrifying thing was its armor, black and twisted, that showed horrifying scenes of atrocities and death across it, inlaid within the black metal and a helmet designed to look like a screaming human face with holes where the eyes would be.

Theron knew of this creature, it had no true name, at least not one any of the Dalish had known of. But there was one constant throughout every cycle of the Blight. One darkspawn who had survived throughout the fall of every single Archdemon to return and claim vengeance on humanity, it was _Amath_ , the living doom. Theron swallowed the lump in his throat as he saw the darkspawn come to a halt several hundred feet away from the Ferelden force. There were few moments of silence, and then they charged.

Theron was surprised by the sudden appearance of an arrow that landed in the neck of the sentry beside him. The man fell to the ground dead and he turned towards the direction the object had come from, in horror he realized that it had come from the tower. Then he saw them, at least two dozen darkspawn spilling out of the tower's main entrance, without hesitance, he and Alistair charged into the fray. Without the tower, they would have no hope for victory.

Theron was the first to reach the attackers, unsheathing his sword he quickly lopped off the head of a Hurlock before it could defend itself. Ducking, he dodge the axe blade of a second one to his left and dug his sword into the creature's gut, without hesitating. Theron turned and sent a wave of fire at another group of genlock's, knocking them over the side of the bridge. Slowly they began to push back against the invaders, but as soon as they started to gain the upper hand chaos consumed them once more as large boulders began to rain down upon them. Some smashed ballistae, others crushed five or six people at a time. But many were aimed at the base of the bridge below, knocking out large chunks and destabilizing the ancient construction. Theron risked a glance to see a group of at least eight ogres digging up giant chunks of the earth and launching it at them. He shook his head, all that mattered was getting off the bridge. No matter how hard him and Alistair pushed against the horde but no one could get through. Turning, he looked Alistair in the eyes, without a word he nodded. Unsheathing their blades, the two wardens hacked and slash through friend and foe alike, neither of them was willing to die here. There was no time to rest or slow down, a wasted moment would mean both of their deaths. If they didn't hurry…

It was too late, the bridge had suffered too much damage, and many people and darkspawn were knocked off of their feet as the bridge began to collapse. Any thought of fighting was replaced by self preservation, Theron and Alistair scrambled and killed and pushed their way off of the bridge just in time for it to collapse behind them and everyone else fell to their deaths hundreds of feet below them. Both men caught their breath as they recovered from the battle, but both were alerted to a new threat by the sound of drawn bowstrings. Turning, Theron lost hope as he saw five remaining darkspawn ready to unleash a volley of arrows upon them. Theron had no time to think, he acted. He heard Elgar'nan scream in his head with the fury of a storm, " **NO!** " Suddenly he was surrounded by a white aura, his eyes took on a ghostly white and blue color. Before the darkspawn could even release their arrows, he was upon them, with a wave of his hand two of them were reduced to cinders by a white flame in a matter of seconds. Turning, he unsheathed his blade and it too was encased in the white flame, with a downward slash it sent a fiery wave at the remaining three, cooking them alive. Surrounded by his dead foes, Theron collapsed onto the ground. He could barely breathe, it took all of his effort just to keep his eyes open. He could just about turn his head to see Alistair approaching him, white as a ghost. "Wha- what was that?" The man's voice was shaky with both fear and awe. Theron swallowed," I have no idea, but it feels like I haven't slept in days, whatever it was it consumed all of my strength. I just- I just need to lay here for a while, I'll be okay. But I am just so tired…"

It was nearly an hour before Theron had enough strength to sit up again, but as he looked out over the battlefield he knew that their forces were losing. It wouldn't be too much longer before they would be overwhelmed unless Loghain stepped in. Struggling to his feet, Theron limped towards the tower. He saw where the floor had caved in and knew it was where the darkspawn had come from. Looking up at the winding stone staircase, Theron despaired, he barely had the strength to walk. Much less climb the stone steps. However, he was surprised when he felt Alistair's arm supporting him, he turned in confusion, "what are you-?"

"You can barely walk Theron and I need you to keep what little strength you have if the darkspawn left anyone to guard the signal fire up at the top. You have to let me help you." Too tired to protest, he leaned against his comrade, sharing his weight as they slowly climbed up the tower. Theron thanked the gods for the lack of resistance, he doubted either of them would've stood a chance against anymore darkspawn in the state that they were in. Eventually they reached the top of the tower, the room was covered in blood-mangled bodies of the men who once guarded this room were strewn about everywhere. Theron scanned the room, right in front of the chimney where the signal fire was meant to be lit was what looked to be a large boulder soaked in blood. He was wrong.

Slowly a large grotesque horned head turned at their approach, an arm with a wooden shield attached to it was hanging out of its mouth of broken sharp teeth. The beast dropped its snack and rose to its feet, it was easily over fifteen feet tall. Clothed in nothing but a dirty brown loincloth, its body resembled that of a Qunari. Muscular, tall, and very deadly. The darkspawn had left an **Ogre** to watch over the tower.

The beast roared as it begun to charge at them, Alistair pushed him to the side and drew his shield just in time to take the brunt of the attack. While it did stop the beast from shattering every bone in his body, it snapped the wooden shield in two like a twig and threw Alistair back several feet. Alistair scrambled to his feet and unsheathed his long sword, his arm shook with strain and fear as he held it. While he distracted their doom, Theron crawled towards the signal fire, he didn't have time to watch the fight. Loghain's forces **must** come to their aid. Checking the wood, Theron was relieved to find it was still completely dry. Summoning what little power he still had left, Theron created a small spark, just enough to set the kindling ablaze. It was done, Ferelden was saved. With the signal taken care of, Theron turned his attention back to his friend.

Alistair was not faring well, he had managed to dodge the clumsy swings of the ogre but it was clear that he was not really harming it with the small cuts strewn along its arms and legs. If something didn't happen soon Alistair would be caught and killed. _"Falon, I don't know if you can hear my thoughts, but if we don't do something all three of us are doomed. I need every ounce of strength you have left, for our people's future, for my future… Help me."_ He felt it, it wasn't much, but it would be enough. Theron clamored to his feet, unsheathing his curved blade, he charged the darkspawn war machine.

The ogre was too distracted by Alistair before it was too late, Theron jumped and plunged his blade into its skull. The beast roared in pain and anger, it tried to reach behind and grab him but it couldn't reach. Theron didn't stop, he sunk the blade as deep into its brain as he could force it, he applied so much force that the blade snapped off leaving him with just the handle. Sliding off the back of the beast, Theron backed up as the ogre flailed wildly one more time before falling to the ground dead. He was panting heavily, turning he limped over to where the ornate shield was lying. He separated it from its previous owner's arm and walked over to Alistair and handed it to him. It was a great shield crafted from ironwood, it had silver inlaid within the wood forming the outline of a hawk in the center, it must've belonged to a great knight or the commander of the guard, but he supposed that didn't matter anymore. Neither men had any energy left to speak, but Alistair nodded gratefully at the replacement.

They were alerted to the sound of approaching footsteps running up the stairs, but in horror both men realized that it wasn't the reinforcements coming up. It was darkspawn, Theron despaired at the approaching enemy, and it was over. Before he could even react three arrows struck him in the chest, knocking him onto the floor. Just before he blacked out, he heard the sound of a dragon's roar, then there was nothing.

Theron did not know how long he slept, but he did not wish to awaken. He dreamt of a glimmering city of silver and gold, he dreamt of a long dead empire, and he dreamt of a beautiful elven woman with silver eyes and auburn hair. Theron gasped, her name was just on the tip of his tongue, and then it was gone. He ran a hand through his hair, which was noticeably longer than the last time he had checked, then the memories of what transpired rushed back to him. His eyes widened as he looked down to see white bandages wrapped around his chest and upper stomach. Looking around, Theron realized he was lying on a bed in a plain empty room. The only pieces of furniture were two small beds and a wooden table with a single chair. Theron saw his possessions resting on the table and got out of the bed. After a single step a sharp flair of pain shot through his chest, with a loud gasp he stumbled forward but he managed to stabilize himself on the chair. His arms shook as he let out a shaky breath.

Theron turned his head at the sound of the door opening, and instead of being greeted by the site of Alistair or even Duncan he was surprised to see that it was Morrigan carrying a role of clean linen. And by the look on her face she hadn't expected him to be awake this soon. "Ah. Theron, I was just coming to change your bandages. Sit." Hesitantly, Theron sat back down on the bed, allowing Morrigan to sit behind him and start unraveling the old bandages. Seeing as this was about as good as any time to get answers he spoke. "How long have I been here? And where I here for that matter?"

"You've been asleep for sixteen days, the darkspawn poison wreaked havoc on your body. As for where you are, mother brought you back here to our home once the wardens lost the battle." Theron felt like he had been punched, he turned his head to look at Morrigan " what do you mean we lost the battle!?" She nodded with a grim look in her eyes," it seemed your king's trusted commander refused to answer the call. Ten thousand men died that night because their reinforcements never arrived, including that king of yours and all of the wardens." Theron swallowed the lump in his throat, Alistair, is he?"

Morrigan replied before he could finish his sentence, "Your friend is fine, if not a bit rattled by everything that has happened. He has been acting like a dog that has lost its master since the two of you arrived." Morrigan finished unwrapping the old dirty bandages and frowned. "It seems that one of the sutures have broken open." Without warning, she pressed a hand over the wound and green light encased her hand, Theron felt an electric current rush up his spine at the feeling of the healing magic and her soft hand running over the tender wounded flesh. It was over quicker than he would have liked but he dared not to voice his displeasure.

Instead Theron thought of something better to say, "thank you for saving me Morrigan." The way her eyes widened in surprise and the nearly unnoticeable blush on her pale face was the only indication that she did not expect him to say that, " I- er- you really should be thanking mother, she's the one who rescued you from the tower and did most of the healing. I just changed your bandages."

Neither of them had anything more to say, so once Morrigan finished wrapping the new bandages around his torso. She stood up and turned to him, "mother wanted to talk to you before you left. She said it was important." Just before Morrigan closed the door behind her something made her pause, "I… am glad you survived your injuries Theron." Without another word the young witch shut the door behind her to let him change into his own clothing.

Although he couldn't exactly explain why, Theron had a smile on his face as he dressed himself. It didn't take him long before he was fully dressed again, he slung his bow and quiver over his back and winced in pain as it thumped against one of the new small scars the darkspawn arrows had left in his flesh. He frowned at the broken handle of his old sword, it was a shame the blade had been broken, it had been a gift from Athon after he had completed his training. But there was nothing to be done about it at the moment, he stuffed the broken handle into the small leather pack the Ashabellenar had provided for him. Lastly he strapped his mother dagger to his hip, Theron cursed himself for leaving the other few mementos of his family in the camp at Ostagar. Most likely the darkspawn had either looted or destroyed them by now.

He closed the door behind him as he exited the room and walked down the small narrow staircase, the cabin was sparsely furnished, the only piece of decoration on the walls was an ornate looking long sword made of strange light red metal hanging on the wall. Walking outside he saw Alistair pacing around a fire. Flemeth was seated on the same stump he had seen her sitting on the first time, and Morrigan was packing up a second travel pack, presumably for Alistair. As soon as Alistair caught sight of him he stopped pacing and a large relieved smile appeared on his face, "oh thank the Maker!" Before Theron realized it Alistair was crushing him in a large hug. " I was so afraid that I would be on my own out here in the middle of nowhere."

The two men broke the embrace after a few moments and Theron walked over to Flemeth and kneeled next to her. "Ashabellenar, I must thank you for your hospitality, you had no reason to save me yet you still did. May I ask why you risked exposing yourself to rescue us?" Flemeth smiled sadly, " I wish it had not come to this point young elf. I had hoped men could resist betraying each other long enough to stop the threat of the darkspawn. It seems I was wrong. However, it does not change anything, it must be a warden who slays the archdemon. If all of the wardens fall then there will be no one to curb the destruction the horde will cause. In this dire situation it is up to you and your friend to gather a force strong enough to push back the tide of the darkspawn."

Theron nodded in understanding, " and how would I do this milady?" "You must gather the forces of men, elves, mages, and the dwarves if you are to stand any chance of challenging the shear numbers of the darkspawn. Without them there will simply not be enough people to stop them. Alistair knows exactly where to start gathering allies, even if he dreads it. The rest will be up to you Theron, and your little friend you have riding around in your body." The color drained out of his face, "you know about-?" Flemeth cut him off, " I can see his power shining from within you like the sun itself, I knew who it was the moment I saw you. Do not worry, I have not told either of them about your king." Their conversation was cut off by Morrigan's approach, " well, both wardens are packed and ready for the journey ahead of them. If there is nothing else I will go and check for any darkspawn scouts, make sure they don't stray too close to our borders." Flemeth held up a hand, "that will not be necessary Morrigan, I have decided that these two wardens will need all of the help they can get. You will join them on their journey."

There was a few moments of silence as Morrigan processed what Flemeth just said and her anger was even quicker, " what! Mother I can't just leave you out here on your own like this! What if-" Before Morrigan could continue, Flemeth cut her off. " My dear, we both know you have been itching to leave this swamp for years now. And I am not willing to risk your life by keeping you this close to the darkspawn."  
Morrigan tried to retort, "but not like this! I-" Seeing the look in her mother's eyes convinced her that there was no arguing with this, it was an order, not a request. Sighing in defeat, Morrigan trudged off back to the cabin to prepare what she needed.

Once she was out of sight, Flemeth turned back to Theron with a look on her face that chilled him to the bone, "let me be clear boy, if anything happens to her I will unleash on you tenfold. There is no power on this world that will save you from me if she perishes, not even that ghost of yours, do you understand?" Theron could only nod, "good. Wait here." Satisfied Flemeth stood and hobbled back into the house, a few minutes later she walked out, carrying the red sword that had hung on the wall before. Flemeth handed the blade and a fresh scabbard to him, "this blade once belonged to a great knight by the name of Sir Garlen who had come to try and slay me many years ago. The blade is dwarven steel, stronger than anything human hands could create. Use it well lad."

Theron admired the blade, five and a half feet long, the hilt was wrapped in black leather that was soft and molded to the contour of his hands. The pommel was shaped to look like the head of a lion and a ruby was ingrained within the center of the hilt. It was a good weapon, much suited for the journey ahead, without thinking Theron muttered the name of his new blade, lion's fang. As he was admiring the sword, Morrigan stepped back out with a leather pack slung over her shoulders and her ebony staff in her hands. Flemeth nodded in approval, "good, if you are all ready then Morrigan will lead you west, there is a small village by the name of Lothering about a day's walk from here. If you are lucky you will arrive before the horde razes it and most of the refugees seeking asylum arrive. Remember what I said, now go."

Her tone left no room for argument, and the trio began their long journey ahead. It wouldn't be long before Lothering was burned to the ground by the darkspawn, and they need to get past it before the darkspawn even drew near.


	5. Allies Found

Chapter 4: A New Alliance

The trio spent the better part of the day traversing through the Korcari Wilds, it had taken them longer than expected to avoid the darkspawn patrols and before they knew it, it was nightfall. They dared not risk starting a campfire in fear of alerting the horde to their position, so they were forced to rely on what little rations they had procured from Flemeth before beginning their journey. Theron chewed on a small meal of dried salted beef and some bread. No one spoke to each other, the dire situation they were in didn't exactly inspire conversation. Theron had offered to take first watch and neither of his companions had any problem with that. And there probably wasn't going to be a better opportunity to talk with Elgar'nan in private.

As soon as he was sure that Morrigan and Alistair were asleep, he spoke. "Elgar'nan, we need to speak." The ghostly figure appeared in front of him, "I believe we have much to discuss." Theron nodded, "we need to talk about what happened on the bridge. You somehow managed to amplify my own strength with your power, but afterwards it left me completely drained."

The spirit nodded, "Yes, during the olden days, there were warriors who could amplify their abilities by binding themselves to different types of demons or spirits. It seems that we share a similar type of bond, however my power seemed to overwhelm you. Perhaps with practice you could train your body to better handle it so that it won't exhaust you and leave you exposed to attack afterwards. We should start now while the others are asleep." Theron agreed, for several hours he practiced channeling Elgar'nan's magic through him in small doses and never for very long. Neither men were comfortable practicing any new types of magic or fighting styles when they were so close to the enemy. By the time it was Alistair's turn to take watch he was thoroughly exhausted, but hopefully with several more sessions he should be able to control his new ability without exhausting himself. The moment his head landed on his pack he fell into a long dreamless sleep. By midday they had reached the main road that led into the small village of Lothering and hopefully they would find enough supplies for the journey ahead.

A bridge served as the entrance to the village, which had been blocked off by several carts and they were filled with valuable items. As soon as they came close, a group of six heavily armed men stepped out in front of their goods. A short weaselly looking man stepped out in front of his friends with a crossbow cradled in his arms. "Hello friends! If you want to enter our humble home you will need to pay the toll. If not, we'll just take it from your corpse. What's it going to be? Glancing to Alistair and Morrigan, he could tell neither of them were impressed by these raiders. Before the man could react, unsheathed his blade and slammed the hilt into the man's temple. Knocking him to the ground, turning to the other five, he saw the other mercenaries charging forward.

A lightning bolt arced off of Morrigan's staff and struck a raider in the chest, cooking him alive in his metal armor. Alistair blocked the axe of another raider with his shield and thrust his sword into his stomach. Theron charged forwards and lopped off the head of the closest one before he could react. Pivoting, he unleashed a wave of fire onto two more, the men screamed as the flames consumed them and Theron turned towards the last remaining raider just in time to see a spike of ice impale him through the chest. With their enemies dead Theron shifted his attention back to the leader, seeing him still lying on the ground, half dazed, he grabbed him and slammed him against the nearest cart.

"Now that we have your attention, you're going to answer some questions for us." The raider nodded, too afraid of his captor to speak," wh-what did you want to know?" The raider told them everything he knew, how Loghain's forces had passed by nearly a week ago. How refugees had been flowing in for days since the defeat of Ferelden's army. Everything the man knew he relayed to his captors, once they were sure he didn't know anything else. Theron slit his throat and left him to bleed out on the ground. "Look around and see what you can find, there might be something useful in this mess."

After searching through the ill gotten goods, the trio found several bags of silver and gold as well as the journal and a pendant that had belonged to a templar. Most of the stolen items were either not valuable enough to take, were too large and bulky for transportation, or otherwise useless. However, Theron did find a journal that had once belonged to a rogue mage and it was full of notes and instructions on casting several different types of magic spells. Turning to his companions he said, "as long as we are in the village, do not bring up the wardens, we don't know what lies Loghain has been spreading about us since the battle and I don't want any surprises." Alistair and Morrigan nodded in agreement, after they made sure there was nothing else of value, the group continued into the village.

It was very clear that the village was not in a good state. The tents of the refugees flooding in from Ostagar were strewn out in a big empty field near the southern end of the village. It seemed that the only people who remained were either too sick or injured to continue on. Theron looked around the throngs of people who either ignored him or looked back with dejected eyes. There were very few buildings, it seemed that the only major buildings that weren't homes were a church and a tavern. However, something else caught his attention, not too far away was a large bulky man with white hair and grayish skin sitting in a cage that was clearly far too small for him.

Theron walked up to the cage and knocked against the bars to gain the mans attention, it was very clear, now that he was closer that it wasn't actually a man sitting in the makeshift prison, it was a qunari. " The qunari looked up with a clear look of disinterest, "what do you want elf?" " I wanted to ask why you were locked up here." The giant raised an eyebrow with a look of slight curiosity on his face but he didn't reply for several moments before his features shifted back to the cold disinterested look, " I murdered a farmer and his family, I have disgraced the Qun and need to be punished for my mistakes. So I will remain here until death claims me, whether that is from starvation or the darkspawn, it does not matter."

"And what if there was another way for you to repay for your crime? My friends and I are dedicated to stopping the threat of the darkspawn and we could use all of the help we can find. If the rumors about the strength of the qunari are true then you would be a great boon to our mission." The inquisitive look returned to the man's face, "are you a grey warden?" Theron nodded, not wanting to alert anyone else to this fact, and for a split second Theron could see determination flash across the giant's face before returning to his emotionless mask. "Very well, I will make a deal with you, elf. I will join you if you can gain the key to my cell from the people who imprisoned me, that will prove the validity of your claims. The village priestess has it in her possession, you will find her in the chantry.

Nodding again, Theron turned towards the church, intending to free his new ally. Weaving back through the terrified villagers, Theron made his way inside the church, for the most part, it was very sparsely furnished. There were several bookshelves that seemed to be mostly filled with holy texts and a single large chest pushed against the wall. There were also several rows of pews that led up to a small stand. Most likely where the priestesses would preach to the villagers, but at the moment the building was completely deserted except for a few stray templar knights and a knight wearing full plate mail with a metal shield depicting a stone tower on top of a red rock with a white background. "Warden!" Theron nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a man shout out what he truly was while he was unprepared, turning to his left he saw a templar with long dark hair beckoning to him with his hand. Cautiously, Theron approached, keeping a hand on the handle of his sword.

"What do you want _shemlen_?" Theron was hesitant, the templars were infamous among the dalish, entire clans had been massacred by them for fear of the keepers and their magic. "Easy now, me and my fellows here mean you no harm, in fact we are quite glad to see you and your friends. You're the first wardens we've seen come through the village since the battle. If we were to believe what Teyrn Loghain said, your order attacked the king and his men on the eve of battle and the remaining forces had to retreat." Theron tightened his grip on his handle, " and do you believe such a ridiculous claim?" The man shook his head, "no, I know the quality of your order. I've fought alongside your kind many times before during this war. All of my men here know what really went down, Loghain never approved of Cailan reopening our borders and trade with Orlais. And it just so happened that Loghain and all of those loyal to him escape the worst military disaster in history with no casualties while the king lies dead? I can't believe that, trust me when I say that we are your allies and we'll help you if we can."

Slowly, Theron loosened his grip on his sword, "alright then, I need to talk to whoever leads this church about the qunari out front." The templar commander nodded, "I thought as much, that qunari would make for a fine soldier, you'll find the revered mother in the back room. But warden, I have a favor to ask, I sent one of my men to break up a group of bandits who were collecting tolls at the bridge, I didn't really expect them to make much trouble but he hasn't returned. If you could find out what happened to him I could provide some medical supplies from our stockpile for your journey ahead." Theron remembered the journal and necklace he found in the stolen goods, pulling them out, he handed them to the warden commander, he saw the man grimace, "ah. I see, thank you for this. Wait here while I get your reward, the man left and came back a few minutes later, carrying three bottles of red liquid, he handed them to Theron who stuffed them into his travel pack. Those healing salves are some of the best potions we have, you merely need to pour a little onto a wound and it will heal and disinfect it in a few minutes. Thank you for your help warden, I mean it."

Theron nodded, turning the group made their way towards the back room where the revered mother was resting. Opening the wooden door, Theron saw an older woman wearing the typical yellow and red robes of the chantry sitting at a wooden desk, writing a letter. The woman turned at the sound of his intrusion, she smiled and set down her quill and stood up from her seat. "Hello, is there something that I can help you with, child?" Theron crossed his arms, "I need the key to the cage that you are keeping the qunari in." The woman was clearly taken aback by his straight forwardness and the nature of his request, "I'm sorry young man but that simply isn't possible, that monster killed an entire family of farmers. We can't simply release a known murderer back onto the streets." He stepped forward, "I believe you are mistaken, I am not asking for your permission, you will give me the key or I will take it from you."

The woman seemed horrified, "you wouldn't dare! The guards would come in and stop you if you tried anything. You must understand, he is simply too dangerous." Theron shrugged, "I don't give a shit, we both know I could kill you before they could stop me. Now stop bluffing and hand over the key." Her shoulders sagged, slowly she walked back over to her desk and opened a drawer, she pulled out a small key and handed it to him. "Get out before I have the Templars throw you out." Theron felt the woman glaring at him as he turned and exited the room, Morrigan and Alistair trailing behind him. As soon as the door shut behind them Morrigan, began laughing quietly to herself, "I can't believe that you threatened a priestess." Theron smiled, "it's always good to take them down a peg every once in a while, have to make sure their ego doesn't get too big, start thinking they're above us little folk." Alistair made a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a snort, trying desperately not to laugh. The group quickly started to make their way back to the entrance before any templars tried to stop them, "Alistair!"

Alistair's head turned at the sound of his own name, and a smile broke out onto his face, "Markus!" The knight Theron had seen talking to one of the templars was quickly approaching them, "I never expected to see you hear, I heard all of the wardens had been killed at Ostagar."

"We were lucky to make it out alive, what are you doing here of all places, I thought Eamon was gathering all of his knights back at Redcliffe?" The knight's face turned grim, "You haven't heard? Eamon has recently become very ill and won't wake up, there have been rumors… Some are saying Loghain has had him poisoned to prevent him from speaking out against his rule. Lady Isolde sent out all of his forces to look for the Ashes of Andraste, it is said that they can heal any illness so we hope that it can save the Arl. Alistair looked pale as he turned back to Theron, "we must go to Redcliffe, Theron please understand, we have no hope of building up any army to oppose Loghain without Eamon's support. He nodded, "we'll make our way towards Redcliffe as soon as we leave Lothering." Alistair looked relieved "thank you." Markus seemed relieved, "thank you Alistair, I have pledged my services to these templars to help escort the priestesses back to Denerim, afterwards they have agreed to come and aid the arl. Hopefully I will see you there."

After saying their farewell to the knight, the group left the church and made their way back to the cage the qunari was trapped inside of. He looked surprise to see their return and even more so as Theron stuck the key into the lock and opened the door, " I did not expect you to fulfill on your promise elf, so now I will fulfill my end. Sten of the berasaad shall aid you until the threat of the darkspawn has been annihilated, Theron nodded, "I accept your service, you shall serve under Theron Mahariel until the darkspawn are no longer a threat." Finally finished, the group made their way towards the tavern to stock up on supplies before heading out on the road to Redcliffe. The pub was just as dead as the church had been, other than a few mercenaries drinking at one table in the corner, one shifty looking man sitting alone in a dark corner of the room, and a bartender loading up bottles of alcohol into crates, however, there was a second floor to the tavern where he could see one of the chantry sisters was tending to some wounded civilians, the man turned at the sound of their entrance.

"I told the priestess that I don't have anymore supplies to spare, unless she can pay with money you won't get one more crust of bread or bandages out of me." Theron tossed one of the bags of silver that he had taken off of the raiders, the man caught it and opened it up, his eyes widened at the sight of so much money."we can pay and we are not part of those stuck up pricks from the chantry. We need enough supplies to last us until we can reach Redcliffe, you think you can get us that much supplies?" The man nodded, "aye m'lord, give me a minute to finish up with these bottles and I'll take a gander at what I've got." Theron nodded, "how about some food and one of those bottles of vodka while we wait?" The man laughed, "of course! Of course! Anything a paying customer needs he will receive." The group spent the next hour drinking booze and eating fried fish. The old man approached them carrying a large pack of supplies, "this should be enough food and water to last you for about a week or so. Is there anything else I can get you?" It was Sten who spoke up, "I need a sword." The man nodded and headed towards a room in the back, the man rummaged through the storage room. He emerged a few minutes later, carrying a large steel great sword with a wooden hilt and the head of a hawk as the pommel in a sheathe.

"One of those chasind traded one of there flatblades to me for my horse a few weeks ago, if I knew we would lose that battle against the darkspawn I would've kept the damn horse for meself. Will this work?" Sten picked up the large sword, testing the weight and handling he gave it a few practice swings before nodding. "Is this what you do now Davon? Kingslayers and murderers come into your home and when they show off a little coin you bend down on your knees like they are lords?" Theron turned and saw it was one of the mercenaries, with a clear look of disgust and hate for him in his eyes. "And what exactly are you accusing me and my friends of, human?" The man quickly rose to his feet, knocking over his chair, snarling he said, "you know damn well what you bastards did! Everyone knows you wardens betrayed us to the darkspawn, slew the king in the midst of battle to save your own worthless hides. Loghain was right to outlaw all of you bastards and he'll pay us handsomely when we bring him your heads!"

Theron and his group quickly rose from their seats and drew their weapons while the other two mercenaries did the same. The tension began to build more and more as the two groups began to inch closer but the fight was interrupted by a woman's voice that had a strange accent, "gentlemen! We have wounded we are treating, there is no need to add anymore suffering here." Theron could see a pretty woman with red hair and kind blue eyes clothed in a set of chantry robes leaning over the railing looking down on them. It was one of the other mercenaries who replied this time, "Who gives a damn about their suffering, most of them are going to be dead within the next few days and the rest will be killed by the darkspawn! The least we can do is avenge them by making sure the bastards who are responsible for this don't get away." Slowly, the woman began making her way down the stairs, she held her arms up in a non-threatening manner, "I know that things are bad but you can't just-"

However, the men clearly weren't willing to listen anymore, the leader swung at the chantry sister, but Theron just managed to charge forward and block the man's blade with his own. Both the priestess and the man was surprised, the shock quickly wore off and he attempted to slash Theron across his chest. He blocked strike after strike not giving the man an inch, seeing an opening, Theron dodged out of the way and cleave the man's arm in two, he screamed in pain but was quickly silenced as Theron stabbed him through the chest.

Alistair blocked the swing of one of the mercenaries with his shield, jerking his arm back, he pulled the sword out of the man's hands and ran him through with his sword. Sten made short work of the last man, grabbing his axe out of his hands, he beheaded him with his greatsword.

With the enemies dealt with, Theron turned back to the priestess, and he was surprised to see her trying to staunch the bleeding wound on the man's chest. "What the hell are you doing? He tried to kill you!" The woman turned, "I've seen enough death in these last few days, I would not wish to see any more if I can help it." Turning back to the man, she sighed, seeing he had bled out, she cursed in a language he couldn't understand and stood up. "You are wardens yes?" Theron was surprised but he nodded, the woman ran a hand through her hair, "good, good, now don't take this the wrong way. But… I need to come with you." Theron raised an eyebrow, "why?" The woman looked embarrassed, "this is going to sound crazy but, several days ago I received a… The only way I could describe it is that it was a vision sent by the Maker. I saw a shadow that stretched over the world, it consumed everything in its path, but just before it consumed me, a griffon glowing like the sun swooped in and protected me, it slew the great shadow and the world was freed. That was when I knew I had to aid the wardens, I don't know when or what I was meant to do but I knew I had to do it. The only question I have for you is, will you accept my service?"

"You do realize how insane this sounds right?" The woman nodded, not uttering a word. Theron sighed, "look I appreciate the offer, but I don't know if we would have much use for a priest on our journey." The woman smiled, "not to worry. I may not look like it but I can handle myself in a fight, I wasn't always living out in the middle of nowhere. I've become quite proficient as a fighter over the years. My skills could come in handy if you need someone to track your enemies or pick a lock or two." Theron thought it over, before nodding, "okay, we could probably use as much help as we can get. If you really want to come with us we'd be happy to have you." The woman smiled again, "thank you so much master warden! My name is Leliana, may I know your name?" He nodded, "my name is Theron, the witch is Morrigan, Alistair is the blonde one, and Sten is the qunari." Leliana nodded, committing each name to memory, "all right, I'll go and grab my things from my quarters in the church and then we can head out."

The group left the tavern and the dead bodies behind, Theron decided to wait outside while Leliana went to gather her things. He wasn't willing to tempt fate by going back and confronting the priestess again. "Excuse me sir! Could I have your attention for a moment?" Theron turned to his left and saw a dwarf with light brown hair waving him over to a large cart with two horses strapped to it. He also noticed that there was a younger clean shaven dwarf with blonde hair sitting on the seat behind the two horses with reigns in his hands and a blank look on his face. Slowly, Theron made his way over to the duo, "what do you want?"

"I have a job offer for you that I think will benefit us both. You see, me and my son here have recently come to the surface from Orzammar in hopes to ply our trade. My family hasn't been faring too well down below what with the death of our king y'see. And I believe you can help me in this endeavor. My son and I aren't equipped to protect ourselves and our wares from the likes of darkspawn or raiders or ancestors know what else that could harm us up here. So here's the deal, you and your friends escort my caravan across Ferelden and in exchange I can offer you a cut of all of my profits as well as a discount on any wares I may have at the time. What do you say?" Theron considered the offer, "I don't know if that is such a good idea, we will be heading to Redcliffe to aid the arl there once our friend gathers her things I really don't think it's such a good idea to-"

"Redcliffe you say? That's a perfect place for me and my boy to start! Look, I understand you may not want to be tied down to lowly merchants like us but I believe I may have something you may find useful, all I'm asking is that you escort us to Redcliffe first to see how it goes, if you don't like it then we'll go our separate ways, but if you end up liking our arrangement than all the better! And I may have a bit of incentive that should sway you, you see, my boy Sandal over there? He doesn't exactly have the sharpest wit, that's plain enough for anyone to see. But I have not met a mage who is more skilled at enchanting weapons or armor than my boy! We are willing to offer you this service free of charge as long as we travel together, what do you say? We will even let you store your belongings on our cart during the journey." Theron thought it over before coming to a decision, he nodded in agreement, "all right, my company can escort you as far Redcliffe and we will see how this partnership goes before we commit to anything else." The dwarf seemed delighted, "fantastic! I swear you will not regret this partnership, my name is Bodahn, what is your name?" "Theron."

Turning back towards the church, Theron saw Leliana walking back towards his group with a bag slung over her shoulder, she had changed out of her chantry robes into a set of loose fitting leather armor with two daggers strapped to her hips. Theron returned to his group and explained the change in their plans, as soon as they loaded their belongings onto Bodahn's cart, Sandal flicked the reigns as Bodahn climbed up into the seat next to his son, encouraging the horses to begin moving and the group followed closely behind. The caravan moved out onto the road that led out of Lothering and into the wilderness. Their adventure had begun and it was time to gain the aid of the only man who could stand against Loghain.


	6. Wrath of the Dead

Chapter 6: Wrath of the Dead

The group travelled across the road towards the city of Redcliffe from Lothering for three days only stopping for short breaks to rest and eat some of the packaged goods they had taken from the village but on the fourth day they had to stop out of exhaustion. Luckily they had encountered no trouble along the path the entire time, however they still chose to take the cart off road and set up their campsite within the forest to prevent anyone stumbling across them during the night. As soon as they found a suitable spot, the caravan began pitching the tents which Bodahn had graciously provided for them along with some blankets and they used their packs as makeshift pillows. As soon as they stopped Theron grabbed his supplies from the cart and dropped them where he planned to set up his sleeping spot before he grabbed his bow, quiver, and dagger and set off deeper into the wilderness.

He walked deeper into the woods until he came across a set of animal tracks, his demeanor shifted as soon as he saw that they were fresh. The mantra Athon drilled into his head since childhood reared it's head within his mind. _Speed of the falcon, grace of the lynx, skill of the wolf, strength of the bear, be one with the wild._ Theron repeated the saying in his mind, not thinking of anything else, he bounded through the woodlands without disturbing the land surrounding him. Not a branch was snapped, he left no footprints within the soft grass, it was as if he became the wind itself, _one with the wild._ Theron smiled, for the first time since that day, since he had lost his _Isa'ma'lin_ in that cursed cave, he felt at peace. This was where he truly belonged, not in war, not among the _shemlen_ , but among these untouched pockets of the world _._

Then he saw them, a mere white spot far in the distance, he increased his pace. A small heard of wild halla were quickly approaching and they had not yet heard his approach. Smiling once again, he felt his magic channeling throughout his body before he dashed forward onto a low hanging branch, he landed perfectly, the branch didn't even shake at his impact. Gripping the last gift master Ilen gave him, Theron notched an arrow and aimed it at one of the largest beasts. He held his breath to steady his aim and it felt like the world came to a stop for a split second, then he released the arrow and everything sprung into motion once again. The projectile struck through the halla's neck, and the herd cried out against the attack before charging off deeper into the forest to escape the threat to their lives. Theron slung the bow over his back once more and dropped down to the ground from his perch. He slowly approached the carcass, after making sure the beast was dead he pulled the arrow out of it's neck, he wiped the crimson blood off of it onto the grass and slipped it back into his quiver. Grabbing hold of the halla' legs, he slung the dead animal over his shoulders and began backtracking towards the campsite.

It didn't take him as long as he expected to return to the camp, by the time he returned the sun had just sunk behind the horizon. He saw that Bodahn and Sandal didn't bother setting up any tents for themselves, instead they preferred to sleep within the cart itself. Alistair, Leliana, and Sten set up their tents in a half circle around a freshly lit fire. But Morrigan had set up her camp as far away from the others as possible while remaining within a safe perimeter complete with her own fire to keep her warm, he could see that she was staring into the flames not paying attention to anyone or anything around her. The others seemed surprised at his return with the dead halla, he gave a small grin before he walked over to the corner of the campsite and begun to skin and clean his catch. It took him nearly an hour to drain the animal of blood and he buried the offal to make sure predators wouldn't sneak into the camp during the night. He brought the cleaned kill back over to the fire and Theron found several long and thick branches lying around the campsite, he used his dagger to sharpen one end of two and he stuck the raw chunks of halla onto the branches. Using two more, he cut circular holes in the top parts and slid the dull ends of the sharpened branches through each, creating a makeshift spit. He watched as the meat cooked, turning the branches every couple of minutes to make sure it cooked completely. Theron pulled the branches off of the fire once all pieces of the meat were a rich brown color, Bodahn was gracious enough to lend them the use of some pewter plates he had stored among his wares. He used his knife to cut off slices of the meat and placed them onto the plates and began handing them out to his companions.

Alistair was the first to break the silence, "y'know, when I saw you taking off into the woods I was half afraid that you were deserting us. But this was more than worth the worrying." Leliana laughed a bit and even Sten seemed slightly amused, Theron shrugged. "I thought about it but you would probably end up starving to death out here without me to catch a meal for you." The group sat and talked among themselves, well, mostly Alistair and Leliana did the talking. Sten and Theron were more than content to listen and enjoy the meal, the halla was a bit bland but it was warm and it had a smoky taste to it and everyone was more than willing to eat their fill, it also helped that Alistair was passing around a skin of wine which he had been saving. Glancing over to where Morrigan was sitting, Theron saw that she was still staring into the flames, completely oblivious to the world around her. Hesitating for a moment, Theron stood and grabbed a spare plate and his own, filling them both with halla. He could feel the eyes of his allies on his back as he approached the witch, when he was a few feet away he waited for her to speak to him for a few seconds but when she failed to realize he was there he spoke first. "Morrigan, are you hungry?" It was the first time Theron had ever seen the woman jump in shock and for a split second he was sure he saw a small amount of fear and worry in her eyes before her gaze hardened once more.

"I'm sorry Theron, I was…. thinking. What did you say?" He offered the plate to her, Theron could tell that the woman had not been paying attention even to her own hunger as she quickly took the plate from his hands and began to devour the food. He sat down across from her, he stole a quick glance back to the others and he saw that they had gone back to conversing among themselves before he shifted his attention back to Morrigan. "You've been very quite these past few days you know. It's starting to scare the others." She stopped eating for a moment, "You don't have to worry about me, I have my reasons for keeping to myself. I don't need you to question me about it." Theron shrugged," it must be pretty important, you haven't even taken the time to insult Alistair since we set off on the path. You sure you don't need to talk" The woman considered it for a moment and he could tell that she was conflicted, "I… have been wondering why my mother sent me off with you. Mother doesn't do anything without having seven different plans in place for each of her decisions, but this. I just have no idea how sending me away will be beneficial for her, and the options running through my mind haven't exactly been pleasant."

He nodded, "well, how about this. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, take your mind off of it for a while. In exchange I'll tell you anything you want to know about me. Deal?" Morrigan raised an eyebrow, "why are you doing this? I don't need your help nor do I want it. So why do you keep doing things like this?" "You seem lonely." This was clearly not the response she was expecting to hear from him, "Pardon?" He smiled, "you look like you desperately want someone to talk to but you don't know what to do about it." She huffed, "you are a very strange elf, what exactly do you want to know?"

Theron thought for a moment, "tell me what your childhood was like with the _Ashabellanar."_ Morrigan nodded absentmindedly to herself, "mother was not an easy person to get along with. There is always one clear memory I have of her in my mind, I couldn't have been older than fifteen at the time, and I decided I was going to explore a nearby chasind village without her permission. It was nothing like I had ever experienced, I had never seen so many people in one place before, and there was this merchant who was selling expensive wares he had obtained from Denerim. He had a beautiful golden mirror that I decided was going to be mine, so I decided to distract him by setting his tent on fire with my magic. It succeeded in distracting him and I managed to take the mirror without him noticing. But a woman had noticed I had cast the spell, so she dragged me towards one of the guards and was screaming that I was a maleficar and a thief and I needed to be punished. I don't know how I managed to pull it off but I played the innocent terrified bystander and convinced the guard the woman was crazy. It seemed like I had escaped without being caught with the mirror, but by the time I returned to mother's hut she had already known what had happened and she was not impressed. She shattered the mirror right in front of my eyes and didn't let me leave her sight for a long time after that. What stuck out the most to me was that she wasn't even upset about me stealing the damn thing or setting the tent ablaze, she was furious that I had nearly got us exposed to the chasind." 

"Seems like a hard lesson for a child. She doesn't exactly sound like the most caring type of parent." Morrigan shrugged, "perhaps, but she taught me to survive, and she taught me that I had to look out for myself first and foremost. Love, kindness, kinship, in the end those things don't really matter, she taught me survival and that was enough."

"Was she truly that bad? My people wouldn't have survived without depending on each other. Family is everything to us, to be so indifferent towards your own flesh and blood is unthinkable to the Dalish. Perhaps you shouldn't be so ready to turn away others before getting to know them." Turning back to look at the others he saw most of them had turned in for the night, other than Sten who had taken first watch. Standing up, Theron stretched and took the two plates. He turned back towards his tent and was ready to leae when Morrigan asked him one last question, "what were your own parents like?" He hesitated for a few moments, "I never had the pleasure to meet them, my father was killed by raiders before I was born. My mother killed herself mere hours after I was born to reunite with him. One of my clanmates raised me in my youth, then my teacher Athos trained me as a warrior when I was old enough." He could see the barest hints of pity in her eyes but she tried hard to cover it up, "don't pity me Morrigan, they were lost to me before I even knew them. This was an interesting experience, perhaps we could do this again?" Cautiously, she agreed, "very well, and thank you for doing this Theron, not many would have made the effort you have for me." He nodded once more before heading back over to his tent, he dropped off the plates back with Bodahn before grabbing his gear and slipping away from the camp back into the wilderness. It was time for some more training."

Panting heavily, Theron channeled the magic through him once more, he was sticky with sweat and his hands felt numb. He had stripped off the heavy plate armor he had worn since the fall of Ostagar, leaving him in a set of loose fitting grey pants and nothing else. " _Concentrate Lethallin."_ He turned his attention to his left, Elgar'nan was sitting cross legged a few feet away with a look of indifference in his eyes. Theron growled, he summoned his magic through him once more, he felt it course throughout his body, he could feel it dancing across his skin as he envisioned what he was trying to conjure in his head, then there was a single arc of light dancing across his form, then two, then more and more and more. He pointed his hands back towards the tree and a ball of electricity formed in his hands. He released his control over it and it exploded outwards as a bolt of lightning, it struck the tree with a loud crack and sent splinters flying in all directions. Theron fell to his knees, completely exhausted. Panting he said, "exactly how much longer do I have to keep doing this _Falon_?" The ghost cocked his head slightly, "complaining is not very becoming of you Theron, you know you need to keep practicing until your body can handle the stress of this type of spell without causing you pain." He glared, "and would you enlighten me as to why this is so much more difficult than the fire magic had been?" Elgar'nan shrugged, "you were but a boy when we started that. Your magic was still developing and adapting to you. You are an adult trying to relearn how to walk again. You have to break down your own barriers so all types of magic become just as easy for you to cast." Groaning, Theron rose up again, "I'll tell you what Theron, if you can cast one more lightning bolt and destroy the next tree with it we'll be done for today, is that fair?" He nodded wordlessly, he willed his magic to obey him one more time, gathering as much as he dared, he collected it within his hand again. The light of the energy lit up the dark forest around him in bursts, finally he threw his arm out and the bolt arced into the nearest tree. Unlike the first time, it snapped the plant clean in two, the trunk fell onto its side with a crash. Elgar'nan nodded in approval," good, that is enough progress for today. Go back to camp and rest, it will be dawn soon."

The ghost faded away once more and Theron collected his armor, he trudged back to camp and broke through the treeline. He saw Alistair was now the one keeping watch, the older man was surprised at the state he was in but Theron didn't stick around long enough for him to comment on it. He stumbled over to his tent and crawled inside, dropping his arm just outside of it. He collapsed on top of the pile of furs, too tired to even crawl under them. Sleep claimed him the moment he laid his head down.

For once no dreams assaulted him and he was awoken by Leliana shaking his shoulder, "we need to get going. The sun has already been out for a while. Grunting, Theron crawled up to his hands and knees, his legs buckled under the pressure and his body was sore all over. Grabbing a fresh set of underclothes, he stood on wobbly legs and followed the redheaded woman out of his tent, stepping over his armor, he trudged off back into the wilderness to locate the river. It took him a few minutes to find it but it was worth it for him. He found a spot where the current wasn't too strong and slipped off his dirty clothing and dropped the clean clothes next to the pair of pants. Wading into the frigid waters, his body locked up for a split second before he became accustomed to the cold. Dipping beneath the surface he allowed the dirt and sweat to leak out into the river before rising back up for a breathe of air. He stood in the waters for a moment, examining the scars that littered his body, he had knicks and small cuts on his forearms and legs that never truly healed from his time training with Athos, he poked and prodded the sensitive new small jagged cuts where the darkspawn arrows pierced him. And lastly he ran his hand over the wound he had received from that bear so many years ago. He had never realized how damaged his body had become over the years, it wasn't unusual for any Dalish to obtain one or two scars, it came with the lifestyle. But Theron had just never realized how many times he had come close to death over the years, it was a very macabre thought but he indulged it. His ear twitched at the sound of a snapping twig but he saw no one, but he knew someone was watching him. "I know you're there, come out."

The woods were quiet for a moment before he saw her, Leliana stepped out of the underbrush and onto the bank of the river. "You have sharp senses, the others sent me out to find you before we moved on again." Nodding, he stepped out of the river back where he left his clothing. Leliana seemed surprised by his boldness and turned her back to him. "You certainly aren't shy, are you?"

"I suppose not, it's something you just have to get used to in my lifestyle I suppose." Theron clothed himself in his clean clothing and armor. "Let's go back before the rest of them get any interesting ideas." The duo walked together in silence for a few minutes before Leliana broke it, "how did you know I was in the underbrush? I thought I was covering my position quite nicely." He shrugged, "I've had to learn to hone my senses since I could walk. You would've been invisible to any human or flat-ear, the bigger question is how you managed to learn how to sneak around like that." She smiled, "you don't think I spent my entire life out in the middle of rural Ferelden did you? I thought the accent would be a big giveaway. I am from Orlais, I was a minstrel once and I must've picked it up in my travels." He raised an eyebrow at her," is that so? I thought minstrels were all spies and assassins out in the east." Leliana shook her head, "you are not far off, bards are the ones who do the spying. Minstrels just entertain noblemen and merchants for coin." He stopped walking and she followed suit, "and would I be wrong to assume you were one of these so called bards? It would explain why someone with your skills was doing in Lothering." She was quite for a moment before nodding, "congratulations, you figured out my big secret. Does it really matter why I was there? They offered me shelter during a storm, and I decided I had no desire to return to my old life and chose to stay there." He nodded and they began walking again, they had arrived back at the camp and Leliana said her goodbyes and returned to her tent to finish packing. He did the same.

It was two more days before they reached the village at the base of the castle, the village was situated in a small valley surrounding the bay of the lake. There was one stone road leading up to the castle, but the most unsettling part was how quite it was. There were no men tilling the fields, no cries of children as the played in the village square, no chants coming out of the chantry nothing. It was certainly odd but Theron ignored the feeling, it didn't change the reason they were here. Just before he was about to continue Alistair grabbed his shoulder, "something isn't right, someone should've come to meet us before we got this far, hell we should've at least seen **someone** at this point. We need to be on our guard." He nodded, the group drew their weapons and cautiously continued down into the valley.

They passed by the granary and still encountered no one, the closer they got to the village they saw more and more signs of battle but they weren't immediately obvious. There were dried patches of blood on the ground but no bodies, the doors of several homes had been hacked apart by either axes or blades but he couldn't tell, there was no birdsong and he did not know why. The group reached the main village and still no one came to greet them and there were even more signs of a battle. "Something isn't right about this." Theron muttered, Alistair turned back to him, clearly unsettled, "wh-what do you mean?"

"No fire." The man blinked several times in confusion, "what?" "No fire damage to the buildings, what kind of battle took place where no buildings were burned? Why are there no bodies, just dry blood? If there were survivors we should've seen some sign of them. Something bad happened here, something dark. We need to find out what happened and get out of here before the sun sets. It won't be safe after night." Alistair nodded slowly, "okay, okay you're right, we need to check the chantry. The villagers would've hid there if the darkspawn or raiders invaded." He nodded, and the group continued towards the church, surprisingly there seemed to be no damage or any sign of struggle anywhere near it. Opening the door, the interior was an entirely different story, bookcases were knocked over, giant dried splatters of blood coated the walls and floor, all of the furniture had been pushed up to the front to create a barrier but it had clearly been broken through by whatever invaders were trying to get in. "A lot of people died here, Theron." Leliana couldn't keep the fear out of her voice, it was barely more than a whisper, as if speaking any louder would alert whatever malevolent force that did this.

They slowly entered the large building, stepping over the debris, they began to search for whatever clues they could piece together about what occurred here. He was searching the back of the building around several piles of books when he heard Morrigan cry out, "I believe I have found something!" He quickly walked back over to her, she held a plain looking book bound with leather. She handed it to him and he flipped it open, a name was written on the inside of the cover, Teagan Guerrin.

 _Day 1, I'm not usually one to write down their thoughts but I believe what is happening here needs to be recorded. Things aren't quite right here anymore, Eamon's condition is getting worse and the healers don't know why, my brother wasn't always the strongest, health-wise, but he shouldn't be deteriorating this quickly. The apostate Isolde had hired to tutor Connor can't seem to do anything about it either. If this continues, I must take up the mantle of the arlship of Redcliffe until Eamon recovers._

 _Day 5, things are getting worse, Eamon has slipped into a coma and we cannot wake him, news has come from the south that Cailan and his forces have been slain by the darkspawn. I suspect Jowan knows more than he lets on but I have no proof as of yet, I will confine him to the dungeons until we get to the bottom of this. Isolde has sent out almost all of the knights to search for the Ashes of Andraste, I doubt anyone will succeed but we have to try. Old folktales and prayer for a miracle is all we have at the moment._

 _Day 7, something is wrong with Connor, he no longer speaks to anyone, he doesn't eat or drink, the servants can hear someone else's voice coming from his room in the night but whenever they check, no one is there but him. Something is wrong with this place, maybe something happened during Jowan and Connor's lessons? Isolde won't leave Eamon's side but we need to leave this place now. I'll give her a few more days and then I'll drag her and the boy out of this place myself._

 _Day 13, Something is very very wrong, I think the castle is haunted by something evil, we found all of the dogs slaughtered in the kennel and drained of blood. But that isn't the worse thing that has happened, we pulled a dead body out of the lake this morning. I had it brought to the castle to have it examined by our healers, find out who it was and how he died. During the dead of night it snuck into my room with a knife and tried to slit my throat, the only reason I'm still alive is because I threw my candlestick at it, which set it aflame. I had checked the body myself that morning, it. was. dead. No one can find Connor, I have a bad feeling he is part of this, I will check what Jowan knows._

 _Day 18, people are dying, for the past few nights more and more villagers have been disappearing. They attacked the castle during the night, all of them were already dead. They killed most of the servants, Isolde is missing. I'm going to take what few soldiers remain and head down to the village to muster the defense. Maker preserve us._

 _Day 20, more of us are dying every night, I have moved all of the survivors into the chantry, this is where we'll make our last stand. Some of the villagers tried to escape across the lake, there are dead things in the water. They were dragged down, none survived. Everyone is afraid and so am I._

 _Day 22, there is no hope, all of the villagers are gone now, only I and a handful of knights remain. They come during the night shrouded in green mist. They kill whatever they can find and take the bodies to the castle to make more of them. If they aren't stopped they'll spread beyond the valley. I have to try to stop them, I know Connor is responsible for this somehow. We'll head back to the castle and try to retake it, perhaps if we kill him this nightmare will end._

" _Fenedhis!"_ Theron cursed, he threw the journal against the wall with a loud thud. Alistair and the rest seemed shaken by his reaction, "what! What did it say?!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "it's bad Alistair, its worse than anything we could've expected. Something happened here, some type of blood ritual, it- it rose the dead. They killed everyone in the village to create more soldiers for whatever raised them. Teagan and his men went back to the castle to try and stop them but they clearly failed. We only have a few hours until the undead creatures come for us." The warden seemed pale, "we need to leave right now while we still can. If everyone is dead there is no point in staying, right?" Theron shook his head, "we can't, unless we stop them here and now, they are going to continue spreading outwards if we don't stop them. We need to take out the main bulk of their forces and then storm the castle to find Connor, he must've been the one who cast the spell." Leliana was next to speak up, "and how in the hell are we supposed to stop something like this? We are what? Seven people against a few hundred? How are we supposed to do this?"

"You're thinking of fighting like how humans fight Leliana, tonight you'll fight like the Dalish. They are weak to fire, we can exploit that. We'll draw the bulk of them into a trap, Morrigan and I will cast a fire spell to the burn most of them and the rest of you can deal with any stragglers. But first we need to check these buildings for any supplies. Any questions?" No one spoke up so the group exited the chantry and split up in pairs, Theron and Alistair checked the houses, Morrigan and Leliana checked the smithy, and Bodahn, Sandal, and Sten checked the general store. Most of the houses were completely empty, all except one, the undead had steared clear of this building for some reason so the duo decided to check it out. They opened the door and saw it wasn't even locked, Theron walked in, just like all of the others it was deserted but he could feel a source of power emanating within it somewhere, they checked every room on the bottom floor but found nothing.

Walking up the staircase, he opened the door and walked into the bedroom. The energy was coming from a chest in the corner of the room, it was made of strange white wood and inlaid with gold runes. Theron kneeled down and opened it, the chest wasn't even locked. Inside laid an elvish sword, but it was not any type of Dalish blade he had ever seen, it was a curved blade that was six feet long and made of a strange metal the color of gold, silver runes lined the blade and the hilt was made of ebony wood. He carefully examined the runes and realized that it was the name of the blade in his native tongue, _Zirael_. There was one more item lying within the chest, a small scrawled letter, clearly written by someone who was not skilled with writing.

 _Loren! I know it has been some time my old friend but you will never believe what has come into my possession. Some elf mage traded me this sword for my horse and my coin purse, the fool, he's probably some desperate deserter who needs to flee the country. But it doesn't matter, this thing is a damn work of art! I can't be sure of this but it might be a blade from the original kingdom of the elves, it certainly doesn't look like any of those other dalish weapons you come across from time to time. It must be worth a fortune, I know you can contact some buyers who would love to get their hands on it. If you help me sell it we can split the money and live like kings! D-_

Theron dropped the note back into the chest, without a second thought he untied his old sword from his belt and tossed it to Alistair who removed his old sword from his sheathe and replaced it with the dwarven blade. Theron attached his new sword to his hip and stood up, the duo walked back out of the building and returned to the center of the village to wait for the others.

He didn't have to wait long, Morrigan and Leliana came back dragging a barrel of gunpowder behind them from the smithy. It would be useful for setting their trap, Bodahn and Sandal arrived a few minutes later, Sten was carrying two large barrels over his shoulders. "We found some barrels of oil in the store, we need to drag them out here. Alistair, Sten and Theron dragged six barrels of oil up to the path leading down from the castle, and in the center they placed the single barrel of gunpowder. Everything was ready. The group waited for the sun to set and they prepared for the fight, Bodahn and Sandal grabbed two crossbows from the blacksmith's home and a quiver of bolts each. They tied strips of cloth around the heads of the bolts and set up firepits next to them on the second floor of the windmill near the window. Sten, Alistair, and Leliana crouched behind some piles of sandbags they had piled in front of the old windmill. Lastly, Morrigan and Theron set up on a small cliff overlooking the path. Theron readied his bow and they waited for the sun to set. The sun dipped behind the horizon, the last shreds of sunlight shrinking and giving way to the night sky. They waited one hour after sunset, then two, then three. He was just beginning to relax when he saw the castle, a green light emanated from the castle. The drawbridge lowered and a green mist spilled out of the fortress. It was so thick that he could not see anything within it, it drew closer and closer and closer to them, as if it could sense that they were there. He readied his bow and lit the head of his arrow with his magic, when the mist enveloped him a shiver ran down his spine. The mist felt oily and it chilled him to the bone, and finally he could see them, they were outlines in the mist.

He saw one, then ten, then a hundred and many more. They dragged themselves closer and closer to where Alistair, Sten, and Leliana were crouching. They were in various states of decay, their skin was pale and rotten, and they were clothed in various mismatched pieces of armor and had old rusty weapons and farming tools. He couldn't fire, not yet, there wasn't enough yet. They weren't close enough. He saw the trio below rise up and began to wave their weapons in the air to entice the corpses, the dead took the bait and began to stumble forward. Theron released the flaming arrow and it hit its mark. The entire road was consumed in an inferno, burning the bodies which stumbled and flailed at the foe they couldn't touch. Theron dropped his bow and began channeling his magic, Morrigan did the same, they began to mould the fire, willing it to begin rising and twisting and moving, more and more and more. It rose, took on a funnel shape and began spinning, consuming the green mist which only continued to fuel to fire tornado. He could see the undead a little more clearly and they steered it towards more of the enemies. When the inferno was directly in the center of the monsters they released their hold over it and the fire exploded outwards. Coating the corpse soldiers in even more fire. The duo jumped down, rejoining their companions, most of the undead had been burned to ash but it wasn't enough. He could already count two score more still stumbling towards them, they charged towards the undead.

Theron unleashed another wave of fire, burning five more and ran his blade through another. It cleaved through the dead flesh like butter and the remains began to smoke and hiss at it's touch. Sten split the monsters in half with his greatsword, he kicked another towards Alistair who beheaded it. Leliana jumped stabbed down into the skull of two corpses. But no matter how many they killed six more replaced them, the group was beginning to tire, they were being pushed back to the windmill and Bodahn covered them from the window. Shooting at any monster that became too bold. Morrigan rose a small wall of flame between the two groups and still they had to back up. There were too many, they wouldn't be able to hold out much longer and if they were pushed back to the windmill they wouldn't be able to escape.

They couldn't win this, they were only a few feet away from the door but the gap was closing quickly. Cursing, Theron shouted to get to the windmill but he doubted the others heard him over the clashing of steel. Sandal opened behind them, and the group piled in. Grabbing a plank of wood, Sten placed it into the handle of the door. They could all hear the dead hacking away at the door with dull thuds, it wasn't going to hold long. Theron climbed up the ladder that led to the loft, looking out the window, he saw at least fifty corpses in front of the door. They only had a few minutes until they would get through.

"Fuck!" He cursed, there was no way out of this. Theron could here the others desperately piling things against the door to try and prolong their end. But it wouldn't be any use, the door was already half destroyed. He heard someone gasp below, "Theron you need to come and see this!" He jumped down to the ground floor, beneath several piles of hay. There was a hatch, he opened it and saw it was a staircase that led deep down into the earth. Walking down he saw it went on and on, he could barely make out a door farther down towards the end of the hall. It must be an emergency escape route out of the castle. "Everyone in here!" The others passed by and began sprinting towards the end of the hall. Morrigan was the last to enter, turning, she cast another spell and a wall of ice formed. Blocking off entry to the escape tunnel. "Let's go, that should hold for long enough." He wasn't willing to test it, they walked to the other side of the hall, opening the door he saw that it lead to an old dark staircase. Walking up they opened another door and it revealed they were in an abandoned bedroom. Turning, he saw a bookcase, moving to one side, he pushed it in front of the door. There was no going back now.

 **Author's Note:**

A couple of little references in this one, I thought this was a much better version of what actually happened in the game. The fight against the undead was pretty lame looking back and I wanted to update it a bit and I'm happy with the result. I also replaced the green blade with something more interesting, the weapon was pretty boring and I wanted to give a better reason as to why an elven artifact was in the home of a random peasant.

 **Elvish:**

 _Isa'ma'lin –_ brother not of blood, his blood is my blood

 _Ashabellanar_ _–_ the woman of many years

 _Falon_ – friend

 _Fenedhis –_ elvish curse

 _Zirael –_ swallow


	7. IMPORTANT UPDATE

**IMPORTANT UPDATE:** I am releasing this update to tell everyone that this version of the story will no longer be receiving updates. I have published a new version of **"The Lost King Returns"** with some changes and I have attempted to clean it up a bit. The new version is on my profile page and if you are interested in seeing more from this story than I suggest you unfavorite this version and move to the new one. You can notice the difference thanks to the small (V2) logo in the title. Thank you for taking the time to read this.


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